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6 OHM with 8 OHM??

post #1 of 11
11/13/03 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 
I take it that most speakers out today are 8ohm. Is it possible (or recommened) to have 6ohm front speakers and 8ohm center & surround? Will this mess up my sound?

Thanks

FYI - The 6ohm front speaker I am thinking about purchasing are the Quest Q660's. Anyone have any input on these speakers?
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post #2 of 11
11/13/03 at 7:35am
sure you can do that.... but if your reciever isnt meant to handle 6 or 8 ohm speakers then you are going to burn it out.

check the back or the manual and see what the impedance of your recievers speakers outputs are. IT may be that the fronts are rated for 8 Ohms and the surrounds are 6, but chanes are good that the entire unit is 8 Ohms.
it may be louder using speakers with impedances less than what your reciever is rated for but its because your amp is working harder.

if it is rated for 250W @8 Ohms, then by using a 4 Ohm speaker your reciever will be pushing 500W, which will probably blow it real quick.
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post #3 of 11
11/13/03 at 8:05am
Joe,

It's probably not as bad as Anthony makes it sound.

What receiver will you be using to do this?

I run a Kenwood VR-507 with 6 Ohm mains and 8 Ohm center/surrounds. It runs a little hot, but it's not burning anything out that I am aware of (2 years and counting).

Beware, though, that heat does kill electronics. If you're concerned, you may want to get an exaust fan running on top of your receiver to keep it cool.

Somebody more knowledgeable than me can also explain why the Ohm rating on a speaker is dynamic and even on an 8 Ohm speaker, the rating will drop below 8 sometimes.

JKS
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post #4 of 11
11/13/03 at 8:32am
I have been doing this for years, now with the Yamaha RXV2300 which can handle either 4 ohm or 8 ohm speakers (currently set to 8 ohms) and also with the last receiver, a Sony STRDE 925 wich could only handle 8 ohm speakers. Neither receiver had any trouble or got even remotely hot.

PSB 300i front @ 6ohm

PSB 200Ci centre @ 8omh
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post #5 of 11
11/13/03 at 9:37am
Quote:
FYI - The 6ohm front speaker I am thinking about purchasing are the Quest Q660's. Anyone have any input on these speakers?
Lower end sound, but lower end price too. Definitely worth the money.
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post #6 of 11
11/13/03 at 2:19pm
Don't worry about it.
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post #7 of 11
11/13/03 at 5:09pm
With the Q660s available online from Futureshop.ca for $99 (free shipping), I don't think you'll find anything better for the price. I'd advise you though to get a centre with matching tonal characteristics (or just simply the matching Quest centre) so that the front soundstage is uniform.
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post #8 of 11
11/13/03 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
Ok..I looked through my receiver manual (Pioneer VSX-D509S)and here is the specs.

Continuous average power output of 100 watts/channel, min., at 8 ohms, from 20Hz to 20,000Hz with mo more than 0.2% total haarmonic distortion (Front)
Front - 100W/channel (1kHz,0.8%,8)
Center - 100W (1kHz,0.8%,8)
Surround - 100W/channel (1kHz,0.8%,8)

It also says to Use speakers with a nominal impedance of 8ohms to 16ohms. Should I listen?

Thanks for the help boys!
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post #9 of 11
11/13/03 at 6:51pm
Thread Starter 
Have any idea where to get a Quest Center Speaker? Have you heard Quests before?
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post #10 of 11
11/14/03 at 9:59am
>>> the rating will drop below 8 sometimes

A speaker with a nominal 8 ohm impedance has a certain resistance versus frequency profile which can be graphed. A 4 ohm speaker has a different profile that is approximately half that of the 8 ohm speaker for every frequency, a 16 ohm speaker has a profile that is approximately twice that of the 8 ohm speaker. The nominal impedance is the resistance of the speaker at 1000 Hz.

The profiles may vary but it should be safe to use any 8 ohm speaker if that is recommended for an amp. If the nominal impedance is less and also the profile has unusual dips which you can't detect without test equipment, the danger of burning out the amp is even greater.

If you must use speakers whose impedance is less than that suggested for the amp, don't turn the volume way up. It is OK to use speakers with a greater impedance than suggested.

Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm
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post #11 of 11
2/10/12 at 12:34am
I just bought Jamo Speakers with a rating of 6ohm using a Sony receiver with a rating of 8ohm. I used the combination for some time at low volume until I had visitors and played my Sony at high volume.

The receiver became so hot to a total shut off and it never came on again.
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