8 ohm vs 6 ohm. Can I mix and match speakers with different impedance? (1 Viewer)

I ordered my first A/V Receiver Yamaha RX-A830. And a pair of Polk RTI A1 with CSI A4. I also ordered a pair of Pioneer SP-BS41-LR for surround speakers. I am still waiting for orders to be delivered. But now I realized that the Pioneer speakers are rated at 6 ohm and my other Polk speakers are rated at 8 ohm. I see that my receiver has a option of switching the impedance. But now I am confused if it will be a problem running my 8 ohm speakers on 6 ohm impedance or 6 ohm speakers on 8 ohm impedance. I am worried if it is going to hurt my receiver or speakers.


Can I just keep the receiver impedance at 8 ohm?


Thanks

No issue on Ohm load, at all. As long as the amp itself handles the Ohm load. (all the "low Ohm" setting does is curtail gain. There is nothing special about it)


Yet...have no clue why you didn't stick with RTi for the surrounds.

Leave the setting at 8 ohms. Any receiver can safely power 6 ohm speakers. The 6 ohm setting usually justs cuts the available power to prevent over-load when using less than 6 ohm speakers.


Enjoy your new setup. I have an 810 I've been trying to sell. Excellent receiver but I'm more used to Pioneer, Marantz etc. Just couldn't get the hang of how Yamaha's "work". My problem, not theirs.


And remember, speaker placement, including their height, can have a big effect on how they sound.


Dang-it Sam, You beat me to it again!!


Probably went with the Pioneers for cost. Monitor 30's would have been a better match.

schan1269 said:

No issue on Ohm load, at all. As long as the amp itself handles the Ohm load. (all the "low Ohm" setting does is curtail gain. There is nothing special about it)


Yet...have no clue why you didn't stick with RTi for the surrounds.

Click to expand...

Thanks Sam.


To answer your doubt about RTI surrounds. I initially thought I will wait for the front channels to arrive and see how they perform (I must mention here that I am more into music than movies). But soon after I ordered my first set of speakers next day I saw these Pioneer on a great deal and was tempted to buy looking at the great reviews these speakers got.

AAhhh...


Doing a sound comparo...


AJs are not going to hold RTi's jockstrap.

If the receiver has a microphone and can listen to the speakers and set itself up, you should be fine. It may take some fine tuning to adjust gains for the different brand speakers but it can certainly be done.

My L & R surrounds are 6 ohm towers (all the rest of my speakers are 8 ohm). My Yamaha 140w receiver has always been set for 8 ohm speakers. I have never had any problems.

I don't know I never seen a Receiver with that Speaker configuration.