receiver to power 4-ohm speakers?

[bobloblaw]

hey all,

i've got a pair of cerwin vega Q1 floorstanders purchased ages ago, full specs are:

32Hz - 20 kHz (+/- 3 dB)
98 dB @ 1 watt/meter
continuous power handling of 300 watts, 400 watts peak

the impedance on these beasts being 4 ohms, i'd like to find a receiver which could handle powering them, but one that, preferably, also has hdmi/dvi connections. any suggestions? cheers.

 

[jliedeka]

With a 98db efficiency, I wouldn't think they would be that fussy. Just about any receiver would do the trick. Pioneer Elite, Denon and Marantz are particularly good at handling low impedance loads. Yamahas can deal if you set a switch to 4 ohm. I would guess that other brands like Onkyo, HK and Sony would be able to cope in some way.

The power spec sounds like a max so anything sane would be more than enough juice.

Jim

 

[Seth=L]

With a 98db efficiency, I wouldn't think they would be that fussy. Just about any receiver would do the trick. Pioneer Elite, Denon and Marantz are particularly good at handling low impedance loads. Yamahas can deal if you set a switch to 4 ohm. I would guess that other brands like Onkyo, HK and Sony would be able to cope in some way.

The power spec sounds like a max so anything sane would be more than enough juice.

Jim

Setting the switch to 4 ohm on any receiver just limits the current output. That said, the Yamaha RX-V663 should be fine to handle those speakers in the normal 8 ohm setting.

 

[PENG]

Setting the switch to 4 ohm on any receiver just limits the current output. That said, the Yamaha RX-V663 should be fine to handle those speakers in the normal 8 ohm setting.

Agree, with 98 dB sensitivity, regardless of whether it is at 2.83V or 1W, I would definitely set the switch to 8 ohm.

 

[bobloblaw]

cool, thanks everyone. the yahama rx-v663 looks excellent, as does the onkyo tx-sr705. i might drive the speakers with just one of those receivers for now and possibly get a pre/pro a little bit down the road. from what i gather, this is generally a reliable option to power 4 ohm speakers.

 

[Midcow2]

be careful with Pioneer

With a 98db efficiency, I wouldn't think they would be that fussy. Just about any receiver would do the trick. Pioneer Elite, Denon and Marantz are particularly good at handling low impedance loads. Yamahas can deal if you set a switch to 4 ohm. I would guess that other brands like Onkyo, HK and Sony would be able to cope in some way.

The power spec sounds like a max so anything sane would be more than enough juice.

Jim

Marantz, Onkyo and Yamaha do a good job. be careful with Pioneer Elite. I had trouble with a older( 5 yrs) Pioneer Elite VSX-45 receiver that was power tripping with Def Tech speakers. Pioneer said explicitly they only support 8 ohm and that they did not support Def Tech. I talked to Def Tech and determine Pioneer is weak in tech support and handling high power and 4 ohms.

 

[bandphan]

Marantz, Onkyo and Yamaha do a good job. be careful with Pioneer Elite. I had trouble with a older( 5 yrs) Pioneer Elite VSX-45 receiver that was power tripping with Def Tech speakers. Pioneer said explicitly they only support 8 ohm and that they did not support Def Tech. I talked to Def Tech and determine Pioneer is weak in tech support and handling high power and 4 ohms.

The last 3 series of Elite recievers have had no issues other that firmware updates required, after 5 years you can let go a little. Most manufactures have issues once in awhile, and as for their current 90 series and previous 80s series they can handle 4 ohm loads. Most speakers run into the 4 ohm range at times, aside the speakers in question a so sensitive its not an issue

 

[ivseenbetter]

I'll second Seth's suggestion for the RX-V663. I bought this receiver to power 4 ohm speakers as well. It works great and they sound incredible with this receiver. Don't bother switching the receiver to 6 ohm. Just run it at 8 and you will be fine!

 

[audioman00]

Setting the switch to 4 ohm on any receiver just limits the current output. That said, the Yamaha RX-V663 should be fine to handle those speakers in the normal 8 ohm setting.

huh? so im choking my yammi?

i set the switch to 4ohms for A and B on 8ohm ea. spkr.

is that not necessary? yamaha thinks it is...

 

[Midcow2]

Maybe so, but Pinerr Cystomer Support hasn't been upgraded!

The last 3 series of Elite recievers have had no issues other that firmware updates required, after 5 years you can let go a little. Most manufactures have issues once in awhile, and as for their current 90 series and previous 80s series they can handle 4 ohm loads. Most speakers run into the 4 ohm range at times, aside the speakers in question a so sensitive its not an issue

You might very well be correct about the Pioneer Elite series 3 receivers, mine is about 6 years old Pioneer VSX-45TX and I had some shut-down problems. I still have the receiver but is has been relegated to drive game machine sound (PS3, PS2, XBox 360, Wii and Game Cube) into some inexpensive book-shelf speakers, Sony SB3000s.

As recently as Jaunuary 2008, I contacted Pioneer tech support and they told me to read the manual. The said didn't you read the manual we only support 8 Ohm. I asked if the supported Def Tech speakers and they said they did not. Def Tech confirmed that they WOULD work with Pioneer. Having said that, Caveat Emptor, when working with Pioneer Tech support. Pioneer's Customer Service and Tech Support apparently has not been upgraded recently. I say apparently, because other Tech Support personnel may be more knowledgeable than the individual I dealt with.

Too OP, Good Luck in what ever receiver you choose most newer AVRs have enough power to drive 4 Ohm nominal impedance speakers. Worst case, you can take pre-out and get a separate power amp just to drive the 4 ohm speakers.

 

[Seth=L]

huh? so im choking my yammi?

i set the switch to 4ohms for A and B on 8ohm ea. spkr.

is that not necessary? yamaha thinks it is...

They do it to safeguard users from overdriving their speakers (rather a safeguard for the company so they have less returned products from people overdriving their receivers). If you know when to stop turning your system up you will be fine with the 8 ohm setting. If you hear distortion, it's time to turn your sound system down.

 

[corysmith01]

Agree with all the others that with a sensitivity rating that high, 4 ohms shouldn't be to much trouble for most good-to-great receivers.

To add to the list, I have a Rotel 1056 powering my Onix Ref 1's. They're 4 ohm, but with an 88db rating, and they don't give my Rotel any problems. With that said, I'm never really cranking them either, mostly just low to moderate levels, so that could play a role as well. But so far, it hasn't shown any signs of not being able to keep up.

 

[audioman00]

thanks for all the help, I will leave the switch alone, I do indeed know when to turn her down, but at the same time...... I like to rock, and the amp runs cool all day long right now, so.... I guess I'll sit down, put on an album and heat up a cup of 'shut the hell up and enjoy your system'... lol

any sane people in this hobby? I think we all need some new movies to watch and some new music....