Rec'vr thats 8 ohm but can handle 4ohm speaker (1 Viewer)

[Arthur]

Just recently purchase a 4 ohm speaker on e-bay(polk lsi7 series). Not knowing the difference I was told that my lowly STR-de895 is not capable of powering this speaker. Any suggestion on a reasonable receiver (NTE $500) that will be compatible or at least be able to handle this 4ohm.

Thx. for info.

 

[JackS]

Purchase a modest priced amp. I wouldn't count on any receiver to be adiquate with most 4 ohm's. Although there may be receivers that can handle your new speakers, why bother when you can get an amp new or used for less than $500. Outlaw mono's for $400 a pair new and saw a pair of MB 100's (Nohr) used for $200 yesterday.

 

[John Garcia]

Give www.yawaonline.com a call and see what their price is for the NAD T743. MSRP ($699, shown on their site) is above your budget, but their pricing is usually lower than what they list for legal reasons. They are an authorized dealer. This receiver is 4 Ohm stable and will sound better than the Sony DE line.

A used amp will likely run you less, and is not a bad idea because you can still use it if/when you decide to upgrade the receiver (though I'd opt to get away from the Sony DE line).

 

[BrianWoerndle]

His receiver does not have pre-outs, so a seperate amp will not work for him.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

A receiver isn't "8ohm" or "4ohm" but either supports those impedances or doesn't. Most modestly priced receivers can't handle 4ohm loads. If you're looking for the same functionality as your current receiver but upgraded amps and build quality I would look at some of the NAD stuff from the past couple of years used. Here's an auction for a T751 that would work very well...



eBay link edited out by moderator - Cees

 

[CalvinCarr]

I could have sworn that reciever had a switch in the back. Check again and make sure.

 

[Andy Goldstein]

have you tried the speakers yet? my receiver is rated at 8 ohms, but i am running 4 ohm pairs all around: double advents across the front, double radio shack minimus-7s on the sides and rear. all speakers are rated at 8 ohms, but the individual pairs are wired in parallel, giving 4 ohms per channel. actually, the double advents are running closer to 3 ohms. the system plays perfectly. 110db peaks are no problem, except for the wife

ag.

 

[John Garcia]

Running 4 ohm nominal speakers on a receiver that is 8 Ohm nominal will always WORK, but it will also stress the amp considerably more than with an 8 Ohm speaker. That means less current overall available, running a much higher risk of clipping. Without sufficient power, you will reach distortion levels quickly and lose a fair amount of imaging and clarity. My receiver is rated at 120wpc and there was just a hint of compression at higher volume, so I added monoblocks (180wpc @4 Ohms) for my mains. The result was a very noticable improvement in detail and depth.

I'm surprised you haven't blown tweeters or shut down the receiver in your setup Andy, sounds very risky to me. I have done crazy things like that too in the past, but when I look back, I wonder how I never fried anything either.

 

[Jonty Rees]

Won't Sony ES receivers handle 4ohms? My 8yr old has a little set up in his room that I put together using an old Kenwood hatchback car audio full range box that is 4ohms per side, (makes for a nice compact setup under a rack for video gaming, movies, etc). Anyway, he blew up an old Tecnics "DD-ready" surround sound receiver playing AC/DC too loud, (chip off the old block). I picked up a used Sony ES reciver on ebay, and it shows no sign of stress at all. Barely gets warm, in fact.

My local A/V store was blowing out "5" series ES receivers for around $600 a couple of months ago.

 

[Mark gas]

Yammies handle 4 oms. They are the ones with the switch on the back.

 

[Andy Goldstein]

john: i have a lot of faith in my kenwood equipment. several years ago (ok, about 20) i loaned out my kenwood ka8100 integrated amp (75/channel) to the restaurant that my wife worked at. they used it for a new years eve party, running 4 8 ohm speakers. ran it all night, till about 3 in the morning. you couldnt touch the top or the front face! way too hot! i sold it about 5 years later, still working well, for 50 bux. a few weeks later it got stolen.

the 6070 gets warm, but i dont tend to watch more than one movie in a row, and i dont crank up the music to party levels very often, or for very long.

as for it shutting down, it did during one cannon shot in master and commander. but i also had it running the subs. i bought a parts express 250 watt amp for the subs, and the kenwood is happy again.

ag.

 

[Kincade]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Harman Kardon yet! I have had my AVR525 and now my AVR7200 with 4 ohm mains, 6ohm center, and 6 ohm surrounds (side and back); it handles it beautifully; never gets hot to the touch. HK tech says it's fine down to 4 ohms...

HTH.

 

[Arthur]

Good news for my lowly sony receiver. Here's the info. from Sony.

Response (Brent) - 07/19/2004 02:47 PM
Thank you for contacting Sony Style team with your inquiry regarding the STR-DE895 Receiver.

"The STR-DE895 Receiver will work perfectly well with the 4 Ohm speakers. The amplifier section of the STR-DE895 Receiver has a 100 Watts power out put will produce 4 Ohm impedence with the speakers and can be used with a 4 Ohm speakers.

The STR-DE895 Receiver has a 6 Channel Power Rating with a 110 Watts Per Channel X 6 (8 ohms 1 kHz, THD 0.7%).It also features a 5.1 and 6.1 Multi-channel Analog Inputs, a 32-bit DSP with 13 acoustic environments, Digital Cinema Sound EX, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, dts, dts-ES, dts: Neo6, Dolby Pro Logic, and Dolby Pro Logic II Decoding."

And thank you for all your responses.

 

[John Garcia]

Here is the most important thing that makes me question their ratings:


When a receiver doesn't list it's rating from 20hz-20Khz, they are playing with the numbers to inflate their ratings. All of the Sony DE receivers I've owned struggled with an 8 Ohm load, let alone a 4 Ohm load.

 

[Carlo_M]

My old Sony STR-DA555ES had a 4-8ohm switch in the back. Bought my MB Quarts and guess what? The ES kept going into protect mode. :rolleyes

Bought an NAD T763 and have never looked back. I will second the www.yawaonline.com recommendation. Ask about their price on the T743 or old stock T7X2 series (might be able to score a great deal on these).