Audio amateur needing help with receiver/ speaker set-up

R

ross_hawkins63

Audiophyte
Hi,

i'm basically getting confused with the impedances on speakers. My issue is this, I currently have the Sony STR K890 AV receiver, cheap I know but thats all i could afford at the time. The specs for the receiver say that the RMS output per channel is 135w with a 6 ohm impedance per channel.

I have recently been given some better speakers however the wattages and impedances are different.
Centre - 260w Max (4 ohms)
Fronts - 170W Max (6 Ohms)
Rears - 70W Max (4 Ohms).

I have tried to read up on all this but am still getting slightly confused so i ask you the following.

1. Will the 4 ohm speaker on a 6 ohm receiver cause any damage. The specs for the receiver can be found by typing STR K890 in to google. (PDF)

2. I have read that I could put high wattage 2ohm resistors in series with the 4 ohm speakers. What are you thoughts on this and if this will be ok can you put a value on the high wattage comment please? Or can i buy some kind of impedance matching device?

3. If 1 and 2 options are no good can you reccomend me a good reciever below £250 that I could use for these speakers. Was looking at the Yamaha RXV467. This gives me 120W x 5 at 4 ohms, is this ok or would I then have a problem with the 6 ohm speakers i have and also is 120W enough.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, am looking to re-do the whole front room as we have just bought the house and this is really doing my head in, dont want receiver to blow up or something. By the way changing the speakers is a last resort really, i would rather by a better receiver. Thanks

Ross:)
 
Last edited:
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Audioholic Jedi
Hi,

i'm basically getting confused with the impedances on speakers. My issue is this, I currently have the Sony STR K890 AV receiver, cheap I know but thats all i could afford at the time. The specs for the receiver say that the RMS output per channel is 135w with a 6 ohm impedance per channel.

I have recently been given some better speakers however the wattages and impedances are different.
Centre - 260w Max (4 ohms)
Fronts - 170W Max (6 Ohms)
Rears - 70W Max (4 Ohms).

I have tried to read up on all this but am still getting slightly confused so i ask you the following.

1. Will the 4 ohm speaker on a 6 ohm receiver cause any damage. The specs for the receiver can be found by typing STR K890 in to google. (PDF)

2. I have read that I could put high wattage 2ohm resistors in series with the 4 ohm speakers. What are you thoughts on this and if this will be ok can you put a value on the high wattage comment please? Or can i buy some kind of impedance matching device?

3. If 1 and 2 options are no good can you reccomend me a good reciever below £250 that I could use for these speakers. Was looking at the Yamaha RXV467. This gives me 120W x 5 at 4 ohms, is this ok or would I then have a problem with the 6 ohm speakers i have and also is 120W enough.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, am looking to re-do the whole front room as we have just bought the house and this is really doing my head in, dont want receiver to blow up or something. By the way changing the speakers is a last resort really, i would rather by a better receiver. Thanks

Ross:)
On a cheap receiver it might well cause damage. Do not use a resistor. It wastes power and detunes the speaker.

Go for option 3.
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
3. If 1 and 2 options are no good can you reccomend me a good reciever below £250 that I could use for these speakers. Was looking at the Yamaha RXV467. This gives me 120W x 5 at 4 ohms, is this ok or would I then have a problem with the 6 ohm speakers i have and also is 120W enough.
Any solid state amplifier comfortable with a 4 ohm load will do perfectly fine with a 6 ohm speaker.

My advice is whatever you do to get a receiver with preamplifier outputs, so that you can later on upgrade the amp sections if they prove to give insufficient output.
 
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