How do you know a A/V Receiver can drive 4 ohm speakers? (1 Viewer)

[Pablo Abularach]

Hi,

I currently have
Marantz SR6200
Four JBL S26
JBL S center
SVS 25-31PCi

I'm already looking for speakers for my second HT, but I want to go a little up, maybe AXIOM, Rockets or Paradigm. But many of the speakers that I have found have 4 ohm impedence. So I was looking at many manufaturers to see my options in 4 ohm reciever, but many doesnt even say if they can, almost everyone have 8ohm specs, but no info about 4Ohm.

So my question is how can determine if a Receiver can handle 4ohm or 6ohm speakers (if the manual doesnt say)?

Do you think any THX certified receiver can handle 4ohm?

Thanks,
Pablo Abularach

 

[Frank Zimkas]

If it helps, running speakers that are 4 ohm nominal with a receiver that is not rated to handle a 4 ohm load will cause the receiver to run a lot warmer than it would when driving an 8 ohm load. A lot of people do it, some have problems, some don't. Obviously you need to moniter the performance of your equipment. If your receiver shuts down, it's time to uppgrade to something that can handle the speakers.

 

[Arthur S]

Pablo

As a rule, receivers with a heavy duty power supply will be able to drive 4 ohm speakers. One generalization is that the heavier the receiver the better the power supply. If you compare lower priced receivers they are rather light, say 21 pounds, to the top of the line for any brand, the receivers will weigh 60 pounds or more. Most of that weight is for much bigger power transformers, bigger caps, more power transistors, and much bigger heat sinks.

But as Frank said, many people can use a much less expenive receiver with good results.

The volume you listen to also makes a big difference. If you want to listen to loud surround sound a heftier receiver is a good idea.

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