Connecting both 4Ohm and 8Ohm speakers.

[nikolas moreno]

I have a Yamaha rx-V595a reciever, paired with a 100w klipsch 8Ohm center speaker. And two JBL Loft40 surround speakers, (125w, 8Ohm)

I am replacing my main speakers with Cerwin Vega vs-12s which are 250w 4 ohm speakers.

is this viable? I understand I won't be able to give the speakers all the power they need but I'm mainly worried about the difference in resistances.

 

[j_garcia]

One pair of 4 Ohm speakers usually isn't an issue, but since they are towers that receiver may not like it. Different impedance isn't the issue really, it is whether or not that receiver can handle a 4 Ohm load with the risk being damage to the speaker.

Wattage rating of a speaker doesn't mean a whole lot; it is a max rating, not a required power level.

 

[nikolas moreno]

how would I know if I am damaging my speakers?

 

[j_garcia]

If you crank it up too loud, you will hear it start to get "fuzzy" or unclear (sorry it isn't so easy to describe), like when you turn something like a boombox or small wireless speaker all the way up and it sounds really bad. This is the amp "clipping" and can cause the drivers to heat up and fail. If you start to hear that, turn it down. The bad part is, it is not always apparent that this is happening because clipping can occur before it sounds so bad that it is obvious.

 

[lovinthehd]

I have a Yamaha rx-V595a reciever, paired with a 100w klipsch 8Ohm center speaker. And two JBL Loft40 surround speakers, (125w, 8Ohm)

I am replacing my main speakers with Cerwin Vega vs-12s which are 250w 4 ohm speakers.

is this viable? I understand I won't be able to give the speakers all the power they need but I'm mainly worried about the difference in resistances.

I wouldn't worry about it but I'd leave the impedance setting at 8 ohm on the avr fwiw. The Cerwin Vega speakers are quite a bit more sensitive than the JBL Loft 40s (97 dB vs 90 from what I found), so loudness levels shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[nikolas moreno]

Perfect, thank you guys.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

[music4cities]

The manual should state if the amp can handle 4 ohms. AV receivers can be set up different ways, internally and handle power requirements and ohm loads differently. It's not just the speakers than can be taxed, the amp could overheat or starve other speakers in surrounds setups.