My amps default setting is 6Ohms, should I get 6ohm speakers?

[ChrisL9472]

According to the manual, my receivers default setting is 6Ohms (There is an option to set from 4-6Ohms).

So I was thinking, would this receiver be happiest with speakers that are likewise 6Ohms? Does it really matter? According to the specs, it looks like I would get a little more power as well going with 6Ohms.

 

[3db]

What kind of receiver is it? What model of speaker are you driving and how big is the listening area?

 

[ChrisL9472]

What kind of receiver is it? What model of speaker are you driving and how big is the listening area?

The receiver is an Onkyo TX-8050 2-channel receiver. The speakers are 8 Ohms (I was asking about 6 Ohm speakers, which I don't have). The room is medium size.

 

[3db]

That switch limits the current that the receiver will put out so it won't burn out when trying to drive a lower impedance load. I have a setting like that on my Yamaha which I leave at 8 ohms and my speakers are rated 6 ohms nominal. Nominal speaker impedance means nothing really. One needs to know at what frequencies, the speakers dip to low impedance and what the phase angles are at those dips. Dips in impedance at bass frequencies with large phase angles are very hard on a receiver. If the phase angles are small (less than 30 degrees) at the bass region or if you are offloading your bass to a subwoofer or if the frequencies are at the midrange/treble where the impedance dips occur then a receiver should be able to handle low impedance swings.

 

[Josuah]

According to the manual, my receivers default setting is 6Ohms (There is an option to set from 4-6Ohms).

So I was thinking, would this receiver be happiest with speakers that are likewise 6Ohms? Does it really matter? According to the specs, it looks like I would get a little more power as well going with 6Ohms.

No, your receiver will be happiest with speakers that are easy to drive, meaning phase and impedance remain somewhat constant and high-ish (e.g. 8 ohms).

The 6 ohm setting means the speaker's internals are configured to still be okay with speakers that dip a little lower, so you can hook up those kinds of speakers. The 4 ohm setting means the same thing.

You get a little more power into 6 ohm speakers versus 8 ohm speakers because of how things work, but you might not get better quality sound to match, so you should consider the power increase an incidental rather than something upon which to base your choice of speaker.

If you were to hook up speakers that go to 2 ohms, then your receiver would be very unhappy.

 

[mjcmt]

Speaker impedances change over their frequency range. If a speaker is listed as 4 ohm it will vary from that, even considerably on less expensive speakers that do not include impedance compensation as part of the xover design.

If you receiver is optimized for 6 ohm you can safely use 4 ohm speakers. Like in the case of my Yamaha receiver, there is a setting for 4-6 ohm or 8 ohm speakers. I use 4 ohm speakers and don't use the 4-6 ohms setting because it limits the output to protect the amp from going into protection, but it impedes the sound quality. I've never had my 4 ohm RCL speakers trip the amps protection even at loud volumes. If it was a regular problem I'd use the 4-6 ohm setting.