[TonyWright]

I am looking to build a system using a Denon 3803 and Swans speakers. My question is whether that receiver will have any trouble running speakers where the nominal impedance is 4 ohms. I am looking at the following speakers for my theatre:

Swan 6.1 BC for the front mains (8 ohms)
Swan C3 BC for the center channel (8 ohms)
Swan R3 BC for the surround speakers (4 ohms)

I am worried that the surround speakers will be difficult for the receiver to drive and I don't want to damage the amp. I have limited knowledge of ohm ratings and the like as you can probably tell. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any general information or suggestions anyone might have regarding the above described setup would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[Chris Cash]

First off, the 3803 like most receivers can run either 4 ohms or 8 ohms. You cannot set it for certain channels. Either all of them are 4 or 8 ohms. Also, you shouldn't mix your speakers. They should all be matched as closely as possible. The only way I know that what you want can be accomplished is if you get a dedicated amp for the surrounds. But amps aren't cheap. I think it would be easier to rethink your speaker list to something more matched.

~C.C.~

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Tony. Welcome to HTF!

You are probably fine.

The rear speakers dont do nearly as much work as the front 3 speakers. The demands they place on your receiver are only about 20-30%. As long as you are not cranking the volume way up, it should be fine.

I do agree with Chris that having your speakers all match is important. I'm not familar with the Swan lineup, but are the R3 speakers tone-matched to the others? If so, it's unusual that the rears are 4 ohms and the fronts are 8 ohms. You might want to re-think the mix.

It can be argued that 5 identical, small speakers and a external subwoofer can create a superior HT experience. I just created a system for about $450 with 5 identical small speakers and a HTD Level 3 subwoofer that sounds really, really good.

[TonyWright]

Thanks for the reply messages! Much appreciated. It seems strange to me that Swan offers 4 ohm surround speakers in their HT lineup. These speakers are all supposed to be used together from what I can tell. They are supposedly tone matched so it is a mystery to me that they would mis match ohm ratings.

I am going to email the folks that sell Swan speakers to find out more.

I'll post back here if anyone is interested.

[TonyWright]

The following passage is an excerpt from the forum provided by the folks that sell Swan speakers. Anything that begins with "Quote:" was my question, the rest is obviously the response of the forum moderator. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions, I would appreciate the input.

Thanks




Quote:
I am looking at using the 6.1 floor standing, the C3 center channel and the R3 surround speakers with a Denon 3803 receiver. My concern is that the surround speakers have a nominal impedance of 4 ohms while the remaining speakers all run at 8 ohms. Will this cause undue stress on my amplifier?


It can cause stress if the amp is substandard, but in four years, I've yet to encounter a case where the rated impedance of the R3 (and many other dipolar rears) has been a serious problem. With a very cheap receiver this can be an issue, but certainly not with a Denon.

Quote:
Why don't the surround speakers run at 8 ohms like the remaining speakers?


A dipolar rear speaker consists of two identical speakers in one cabinet. These two systems are wired in parallel, and since both are 8 ohm nominal systems to begin, when paralleled together they combine to create a 4 ohm total load. It's fairly common...but a wise question to answer before you commit.

Quote:
I imagine that all of these speakers are tone matched. Is this the case?


Yes, they are. The drivers and crossovers are designed to compliment one another.

Quote:
Will the Denon 3803 be suitable for these speakers?


Well, we've got a lot of customers using the Denons successfully so I'd emphatically say yes. As we've been suggesting to posters on our forum, the Swans are quite sensitive and are actually easier to drive then many similarly priced systems.

[Andy Goldstein]

tone matching and impedence are not related per se. i have been running large advents for 25 years, and they are rated at 8 ohms. actually, 6 is a more reasonable figure, from the impedence plot. the smaller advents are rated at 4 ohms, and, except for the last octave of bass, they sound the same as the large ones.

ag.