6 ohm speakers driven by 8 ohm receivers

[Rickroll]

I am looking to update speakers soon but I see a lot of upper end speakers that are rated at 6 ohms. I am looking at replacing the front three. Here's the dilemma. My receiver is capable of going to 6 ohm but my rear surrounds are 8 ohms. My receiver is a pioneer elite 21txh rated at 110 watts per channel. What issues would I run into if I run 6 ohm speakers up front with my 8 ohm speakers in the rear? Thanks guys. This will help me make some decisions.

 

[markw]

100 watts can get plenty loud and it's rare that you will need that much power on a continuous basis. Unless your speakers dip down to a very low impedance at some parts of their range, you should be just fine unless you try to crack your foundation or break windows on a regular basis.

Now, if you told us the speakers in question, perhaps a more specific answer could be provided.

 

[rojo]

I drive 6 ohm MB Quarts mains and 8 ohm Fluance surrounds no problem with my Marantz receiver. I'm sure your Pioneer Elite has similar power capabilities. I say go for it.

 

[GIEGAR]

I am looking to update speakers soon but I see a lot of upper end speakers that are rated at 6 ohms. I am looking at replacing the front three. Here's the dilemma. My receiver is capable of going to 6 ohm but my rear surrounds are 8 ohms. My receiver is a pioneer elite 21txh rated at 110 watts per channel. What issues would I run into if I run 6 ohm speakers up front with my 8 ohm speakers in the rear? Thanks guys. This will help me make some decisions.

Rick, your Pioneer Elite carries the THX Select2 Plus certification. This means that it's capable of playing any commercially available multichannel program material to Reference Level* in a "Select sized" room, when hooked up to a set of speakers with a minimum sensitivity of 89dB/1W/1m and impedances of 4Ω nom. for the front channels and 8Ω nom. for the surrounds.
* On a correctly calibrated AVR, Reference Level is denoted by the 0dB master volume setting.

A "Select sized" room is up to 2000ft^3 with a 10 - 12ft viewing distance. Your room is much larger at 4000ft^3, so the Pioneer Elite theoretically wouldn't be capable of cleanly driving a set of compliant speakers at 0dBMV (master volume) in that room. However, if your maximum volume preferences are at (say) -5dBMV or -10dBMV, requiring on average ~3 times or 10 times less power respectively, you should have no issues with the Pioneer Elite driving reasonably sensitive (89dB/1W/1m) speakers with 6Ω impedance in your sized room. Naturally, if you can source speakers with greater sensitivity, average power requirements are further reduced.

100 watts can get plenty loud and it's rare that you will need that much power on a continuous basis. Unless your speakers dip down to a very low impedance at some parts of their range, you should be just fine unless you try to crack your foundation or break windows on a regular basis.

He might still be able to manage that Mark, with the right set of speakers and sub.

Now, if you told us the speakers in question, perhaps a more specific answer could be provided.

In Rick's other thread, I'm having a red-hot go into talking him into a Hsu Research package.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

I am looking to update speakers soon but I see a lot of upper end speakers that are rated at 6 ohms. I am looking at replacing the front three. Here's the dilemma. My receiver is capable of going to 6 ohm but my rear surrounds are 8 ohms. My receiver is a pioneer elite 21txh rated at 110 watts per channel. What issues would I run into if I run 6 ohm speakers up front with my 8 ohm speakers in the rear? Thanks guys. This will help me make some decisions.

One thing to bear in mind is that impedance ratings aren't consistent across manufacturers. Most "8-ohm" speakers dip down to 6 ohms across a significant portion of the frequency range, and most "6 ohm" speakers have impedance peaks that can be as high as 20 ohms near the crossover frequency. I wouldn't worry about the apparent difference in the ratings.

 

[Chromejob]

From what I've read, having a powered sub in a setup will alleviate the AVR from power consumption normally consumed to power main speakers (in this case 6 ohm speakers), so concerns about lower nominal impedance speakers are mitigated in 5.1 or more systems. After adopting a powered sub, and reading several articles about impedance switches in AVRs, I set my Yahama RX-V775 back to the 8 ohm setting.

 

[Rickroll]

I was thinking of going with the emp R5Bi speakers with emp center. Looks like a very good buy for the quality. Looking for a little louder push and a better workhorse than

Rick, your Pioneer Elite carries the THX Select2 Plus certification. This means that it's capable of playing any commercially available multichannel program material to Reference Level* in a "Select sized" room, when hooked up to a set of speakers with a minimum sensitivity of 89dB/1W/1m and impedances of 4Ω nom. for the front channels and 8Ω nom. for the surrounds.
* On a correctly calibrated AVR, Reference Level is denoted by the 0dB master volume setting.

A "Select sized" room is up to 2000ft^3 with a 10 - 12ft viewing distance. Your room is much larger at 4000ft^3, so the Pioneer Elite theoretically wouldn't be capable of cleanly driving a set of compliant speakers at 0dBMV (master volume) in that room. However, if your maximum volume preferences are at (say) -5dBMV or -10dBMV, requiring on average ~3 times or 10 times less power respectively, you should have no issues with the Pioneer Elite driving reasonably sensitive (89dB/1W/1m) speakers with 6Ω impedance in your sized room. Naturally, if you can source speakers with greater sensitivity, average power requirements are further reduced.


He might still be able to manage that Mark, with the right set of speakers and sub.

In Rick's other thread, I'm having a red-hot go into talking him into a Hsu Research package.

I was thinking of going with the emp R5Bi front channels and also center. Was looking for a little more punch and definition. Look like great quality for the money. What do you guys think.

 

[GIEGAR]

I was thinking of going with the emp R5Bi front channels and also center. Was looking for a little more punch and definition. Look like great quality for the money. What do you guys think.

The EMPTek Impression series are quite highly regarded in their price bracket (and above) from what I've seen. The R5Bi's, being a 5.25" 2-way with a lowish (honest?) 85dB/1W/1m sensitivity, will have their limitations though, and may not deliver the punchiness or loudness you're after at what I assume (based your 25ft room dimension) is a relatively long listening distance. They'll certainly be outperformed in that regard by the 5 - 6dB more sensitive 6.5" or twin 6.5" 2-ways from Hsu and Ascend that were recommended in your other thread.

What the R5Bi's are though is a great first step to a full EMPTek Impression system eventually. With a pair of those, you could also get a Hsu Research VTF-15H (Satin Black) on clearance for just under $1100 all up. The next step would be a R56Ci Center Channel (yes, the 'un). Following that, a pair of R55Ti Towers is in order, at which time you'd swing the R5Bi's around to surround duty.

You would just need to commit to the EMPTek Impressions now and build your system over a while. I'm quietly confident though, that the eventual EMPTek front end with 6 X 5.25" mids and 8 X 6.5" woofers (backed up by that terrific sub) will handily deliver the performance you're after.

Edit: By the way Rick, what are usual maximum volume preferences (dBMV)?

 

[Rickroll]

The EMPTek Impression series are quite highly regarded in their price bracket (and above) from what I've seen. The R5Bi's, being a 5.25" 2-way with a lowish (honest?) 85dB/1W/1m sensitivity, will have their limitations though, and may not deliver the punchiness or loudness you're after at what I assume (based your 25ft room dimension) is a relatively long listening distance. They'll certainly be outperformed in that regard by the 5 - 6dB more sensitive 6.5" or twin 6.5" 2-ways from Hsu and Ascend that were recommended in your other thread.

What the R5Bi's are though is a great first step to a full EMPTek Impression system eventually. With a pair of those, you could also get a Hsu Research VTF-15H (Satin Black) on clearance for just under $1100 all up. The next step would be a R56Ci Center Channel (yes, the 'un). Following that, a pair of R55Ti Towers is in order, at which time you'd swing the R5Bi's around to surround duty.

You would just need to commit to the EMPTek Impressions now and build your system over a while. I'm quietly confident though, that the eventual EMPTek front end with 6 X 5.25" mids and 8 X 6.5" woofers (backed up by that terrific sub) will handily deliver the performance you're after.

Edit: By the way Rick, what are usual maximum volume preferences (dBMV)?

I actually sit about 12 feet from the front speakers. My rears are behind me. My tAke 5 classics are pretty loud but are at 87 rating for efficiency.

 

[Rickroll]

The EMPTek Impression series are quite highly regarded in their price bracket (and above) from what I've seen. The R5Bi's, being a 5.25" 2-way with a lowish (honest?) 85dB/1W/1m sensitivity, will have their limitations though, and may not deliver the punchiness or loudness you're after at what I assume (based your 25ft room dimension) is a relatively long listening distance. They'll certainly be outperformed in that regard by the 5 - 6dB more sensitive 6.5" or twin 6.5" 2-ways from Hsu and Ascend that were recommended in your other thread.

What the R5Bi's are though is a great first step to a full EMPTek Impression system eventually. With a pair of those, you could also get a Hsu Research VTF-15H (Satin Black) on clearance for just under $1100 all up. The next step would be a R56Ci Center Channel (yes, the 'un). Following that, a pair of R55Ti Towers is in order, at which time you'd swing the R5Bi's around to surround duty.

You would just need to commit to the EMPTek Impressions now and build your system over a while. I'm quietly confident though, that the eventual EMPTek front end with 6 X 5.25" mids and 8 X 6.5" woofers (backed up by that terrific sub) will handily deliver the performance you're after.

Edit: By the way Rick, what are usual maximum volume preferences (dBMV)?

Usually anywhere from -30 to maybe -20. -20 is very loud and the living room shakes with movie bass. That is all from my energy tAke 5. That's why I can't wait to do an upgrade. I do run dual subs so they fill very nice.

 

[GeneC]

I've been using an Elite VSX-23 in a 5.1 setup for several years with at least two dozen different speakers of varying impendances, spl's and sadly, quality. I even used it with 5 Polk LSi's for over a year without any issues. I do listen at moderate volumes (usually -12 to -30) in a 13 x 18 foot room but only 13 x 10 contain the speakers. One thing I've noticed over the years is spl doesn't always relate to volume levels. I sometimes have to up the volume with supposedly high spl speakers in order to achieve the same sound output. Case in point, I recently aquired a used pair of JBL Studio L830's (8 ohm, 90 db spl) and have to up the volume 5-6 db (edit: more like 2-3 really) to achieve about the same output as lower db speakers.

BTW, I put a cheap (but accurate?) food thermometer on top of the warmest area of the 23 and measured the temp with different ohm speakers over several days. After swapping them out several times...

8 ohm Mordaunt Short 902's.......95%

6 ohm MB Quart Vera's..............105%

4 ohm MB Quart QLS 530's.........115%

The 8 ohm L830's seem to cause about 98%. Maybe the higher volume setting is the culprit?

 

[Rickroll]

I've been using an Elite VSX-23 in a 5.1 setup for several years with at least two dozen different speakers of varying impendances, spl's and sadly, quality. I even used it with 5 Polk LSi's for over a year without any issues. I do listen at moderate volumes (usually -12 to -30) in a 13 x 18 foot room but only 13 x 10 contain the speakers. One thing I've noticed over the years is spl doesn't always relate to volume levels. I sometimes have to up the volume with supposedly high spl speakers in order to achieve the same sound output. Case in point, I recently aquired a used pair of JBL Studio L830's (8 ohm, 90 db spl) and have to up the volume 5-6 db (edit: more like 2-3 really) to achieve about the same output as lower db speakers.

BTW, I put a cheap (but accurate?) food thermometer on top of the warmest area of the 23 and measured the temp with different ohm speakers over several days. After swapping them out several times...

8 ohm Mordaunt Short 902's.......95%

6 ohm MB Quart Vera's..............105%

4 ohm MB Quart QLS 530's.........115%

The 8 ohm L830's seem to cause about 98%. Maybe the higher volume setting is the culprit?

I've noticed on mine that after playing a good action movie where I have it up shaking the house and my wife yelling at me that the receiver is a lot warmer than lower volume with tamer movie. Just making it work! Love the receiver. I know with better speakers I would be able to fill the room with more dynamic sound and realism.

 

[zieglj01]

I recently aquired a used pair of JBL Studio L830's (8 ohm, 90 db spl) and have to up the volume 5-6 db (edit: more like 2-3 really) to achieve about the same output as lower db speakers.

How do you like them - do you notice a boosted treble with them?

 

[Rickroll]

How do you like them - do you notice a boosted treble with them?

How do I like what? My speakers?

 

[GeneC]

How do I like what? My speakers?

I think his inquiry was for me and my JBL L830's .

"How do you like them - do you notice a boosted treble with them?"

I was expecting a boosted treble with their dual tweeters, one of the reasons I hadn't considered them in past years, but I think they're more neutral then anything. The midrange is a bit softer then either pair of MB Quarts I have, or a bit less detailed. But very smooth which is the way I like it. All in all the JBL L830's are excellent speakers and now I know why you recommend them so often.

The top tweeter is crossed over at a very high 20,000 hz. Weird.

 

[zieglj01]

I actually sit about 12 feet from the front speakers. My rears are behind me. My tAke 5 classics are pretty loud but are at 87 rating for efficiency.

The Take Classic was measured to be 85.5 db.