Is it okay to use 4 ohm center & 8 ohm front speakers? (1 Viewer)

[Alan Ching]

Hi,

I am a newbie here. Hope you guys can help me with this. I am currently using denon 2802 and a pair of 8 ohm front speakers. I am wondering is it okay to use a 4 ohm center speaker? I am not sure if the 2802 have enough power to drive a 4 ohm speaker. Also, what is the difference between 4 ohm and 8 ohm speakers? All I know is a 4 ohm speaker will need a bigger current than a 8 ohm one. Does a 4 ohm speaker sound the same as a 8 ohm speaker? Does it sound louder? Thanks.

Alan

 

[Chris Tsutsui]

The 4 ohm will sound the same, it just uses up more power due to the less resistance it has.

I would check the manual to see if your Denon is 4 ohm stable. I think it will be fine but there's that risk the amp will overheat. I also don't know if you can adjust the gain on the center channel which u might have to end up doing.

It will probably work fine, speaker resistances arn't exact anyways.. my biggest concern would be the amp overheating if you play it loud.

(btw, I havn't tried it so I'm not 100% sure it will work)

 

[Alan Ching]

Chris, Thanks for your reply. The manual doesn't have any spec about 4 ohm speakers, it does have spec for 6 ohm speakers though. So, if the amp get overheat, usually, does it trigger the protection circuit and turn off the amp? Will it cause any demage to the amp? Also, I read in other posts that talked about the center speaker matching the front speakers, that the center should be made by the same company and from the same "family" line. Is it important as to match the sound of the front speakers?

 

[Cees Alons]

Alan,

Sound matching is what they're talking about. Of course that would be easier with totally equal speaker sets, or at least with the same brand (having had the manufacturer do your work), but it can occasionally be achieved with different speaker boxes as well.

Impedance plays no role (at least a very minor one) in that.

Now, about that 4 Ohms. Apparently, your receiver tries to be in between: 6 Ohms isn't that much higher, especially not if you realize that the dynamic impedance of a speaker ranges over a relatively quite different set of values for different frequencies (e.g. from 2 - 10 Ohms).

Your setup will most probably do fine. To be more secure, choose your loudness level by setting the 8 Ohms speakers, and then match the level of the other one.

Good luck!

Cees

 

[Alan Ching]

Thanks, Cees. There is a matching center speaker for my front speaker, which is 4 ohm, but it is a little too big for me. I am thinking about buying a Celestion F35C as the center speaker, because of speaker's size and budget reason. The Celestion F35C is a 8 ohm speaker. Have anyone listen to it? Is the sound okay? I just afraid that it doesn't match with my front speakers. As I am a newbie in Home Theatre, I want to know what does it sound like when the center speaker doesn't match the front speakers?

 

[Cees Alons]

Alan,

I don't know about the Celestion, but here is why people want the fronts to be matched:

When people move across the screen, their voices may alternately (mainly) be on the right speaker, the center speaker or the left one. Same for various noises.

Now, if someone was speaking while moving from the utmost left to the right of the screen (or if the point of view switches rather quickly), and the sound of his/her voice would change purely as a result of the movement: that's something you don't want. If the scene is purely static, it's not that important.

Cees

 

[Alan Ching]

Thanks, Cees.