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In Reply to: 4 ohm speakers for use with HT AV Receiver - A No No? posted by Uncle Pete on May 27, 2003 at 22:52:17:
Any amp will drive a 4 ohm load even an S.E.T. It's just that they will not do it efficently. Therefore their performance and sound quality will suffer. You will limit the performance of your speakers, especialy at higher volumes. A.V. Receivers just work better with high sensitivity high impedance speakers, as do S.E.T.'s. The other thing that is important is how flat their impedence is. Flatter is better except when talking about women!Remember an A.V. Receiver does a hole lot of work. The more work it does the worse it's sound quality. At least thats been my experience. When freinds ask for my advice on a A.V. Receiver I always tell them simpler is better, same with the speakers i.e. when it comes to impedance loads. The only way to know is to try the combo and let your ears tell you what you want to know.
Follow Ups:
Quote:"Any amp will drive a 4 ohm load even an S.E.T. It's just that they will not do it efficently. Therefore their performance and sound quality will suffer."
That's not completely true. There are low-end mass-market receivers out there that will overheat and/or go into overload protection mode when pushing 4 ohm loads. Either the receiver's power supply can handle it or it cannot. An amp that is 4-ohm stable will run all day. Sound quality is a whole other issue.
No that is completely true. What you are talking about is pushing the receiver, I wasn't. Also driving multiple 4 ohm speakers would be a problem. The louder you play the harder the load. A man has to know his systems limitations. I don't see even a cheap A.V. Reciever not being able to drive a pair of 4 ohm speakers at low volume levels.
"Also driving multiple 4 ohm speakers would be a problem. I don't see even a cheap A.V. Reciever not being able to drive a pair of 4 ohm speakers at low volume levels."I was talking about typical real-world use of a HT receiver: All 5 channels driven, at real-world volume levels. This is probably what the original question was in regard to. I don't consider this pushing a receiver. That's what it's supposed to do.
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