mixing impedance? (1 Viewer)

[John_Kiger]

I have a new Yamaha HTR-5440 with 5 identical 2-way speaker systems: 6 ohm, 30watts, 3", with a 1/2" tweeter. These, plus the sub woofer do their job exactly as advertised in this small room. It's okay for movies. In fact, it's great for movies. The fun part was the sound of aircraft recip engines in Pearl Harbor. I should be satisfied, right? Nay.

I miss the midrange 3-way bookshelf speakers from the prior stereo system for listening to music. They are 8 ohms, 50 watts. Can I safely introduce these 8 ohm speakers to the new rig? Small and large settings for speakers are available on the receiver, and I believe, individual output levels can be set as well.

Oh yes, there >is< an impedance switch on the back, now set generally for the 6 ohm system.

I have declined to experiment because I do not want to smoke anything. Please tell me what's wise and safe here. Opinions are welcome, even jokes. Go ahead, make my day. Thanks.

 

[Saurav]

Running an 8 ohm speaker with the switch set to 6 ohms should be fine as far as smoking things goes. You'll probably lose a little in terms of the dynamic range your system can produce. If you flip your switch to the 8 ohm setting, then you'll have to keep an eye on how warm your receiver is getting when played loud, and IMO that would be the less safe option.

Try it out, starting with low volumes and short durations, increasing both as your confidence level goes up.

 

[John_Kiger]

Thank you, Saurav. I'll proceed cautiously.

 

[Thomas_A]

I have some OHM FSR5's that I ran on two yammies... they are 6ohm speakers and never had an issue... when set to 8ohms on the back... just what I have experienced

 

[John_Kiger]

I put the two 8 ohm bookshelf speakers back in by making them the main "B" set, their intended use to be for playing the CD changer and other music sources. The "A" set remains as the manufacturer's original 6 ohm out-of-the-box configuration, with the smaller 6 ohm speakers as the mains for movies.

The new arrangement seemed to work well without incident tonight, and I was thankful to have the full spectrum back for music source. Thank you for your comments.