Running 8 ohm & 4 ohm speakers?

[rluvs]

I currently run my home theater system as follows: Pioneer VSX 94, speakers up front are paradigm s-20's. Center, Audio Monitor silver LSR. Surrounds, speaker-craft mt-6's. Sub, velodyne spl 1000.

I would like to change my center speaker out. It is placed in the cabinet below my Pani 58" 750u Plasma. It's to low. I want to place a center on top of the cabinet but there is little space. I found two that will work. one is the martan logan encore. Love the sound. However it is 4ohm's.....to the paradigm's 8ohm's

What are the problems I might face buyng one? Thx. for the help, I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous. One more thing, the other center was a definitive technology, but I don't have the model number at this time.

 

[XEagleDriver]

A couple thoughts

I currently run my home theater system as follows: Pioneer VSX 94, speakers up front are paradigm s-20's. Center, Audio Monitor silver LSR. Surrounds, speaker-craft mt-6's. Sub, velodyne spl 1000.

I would like to change my center speaker out. It is placed in the cabinet below my Pani 58" 750u Plasma. It's to low. I want to place a center on top of the cabinet but there is little space. .

A less expensive solution is to just angle the current center up a bit. I did this just by stacking a couple rectangular pencil erasers under the front edge This solution is less than a couple dollars!

If not, I would strongly consider getting a Paradigm center that better matches your fronts, vice buying a ~$500 MSRP speaker from a different manufacturer. If your long range plan is to eventually put MLs all across your front sound stage, then your idea is a logical first step.

I found two that will work. one is the martan logan encore. Love the sound. However it is 4ohm's.....to the paradigm's 8ohm's. What are the problems I might face buyng one?

Buying one--no probelm other than cash!

Using one may be a problem. The Pio VSX94 is only spec'd to handle 6 ohm speakers (manual p. 19). I do not own a VSX94, so I can not say if it can actually handle a 4 ohm speaker well or not.

There may be some VSX94 owners in this forum who could share if they have successfully run a 4 ohm speaker (preferably a Martin Logan) despite the Pio's spec'd rating.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[rluvs]

A less expensive solution is to just angle the current center up a bit. I did this just by stacking a couple rectangular pencil erasers under the front edge This solution is less than a couple dollars!

If not, I would strongly consider getting a Paradigm center that better matches your fronts, vice buying a ~$500 MSRP speaker from a different manufacturer. If your long range plan is to eventually put MLs all across your front sound stage, then your idea is a logical first step.



Buying one--no probelm other than cash!

Using one may be a problem. The Pio VSX94 is only spec'd to handle 6 ohm speakers (manual p. 19). I do not own a VSX94, so I can not say if it can actually handle a 4 ohm speaker well or not.

There may be some VSX94 owners in this forum who could share if they have successfully run a 4 ohm speaker (preferably a Martin Logan) despite the Pio's spec'd rating.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

I just checked the manual, 8 or 6 ohm and you must set it as either or. No multi settings for both ohm's. I'll check out your idea before laying out the cash. But it's about toys and change......Thx, again.

 

[XEagleDriver]

rluvs,

You are right, the Pio does not have separate ohm settings (6 or 8) for the various speakers, but the more important question is--can the AVR's amps can safely drive a 4 ohm load at all, or will a 4 ohm load cause a premature amp failure.

XEagleDriver

 

[jliedeka]

Unfortunately the nominal impedance spec is almost useless. You really need to know the impedance and phase across the frequency spectrum to know how tough a load it will be for an amp. The 4 ohm nominal impedance rating may be a warning that it's a tough load or it could mean ML is more honest about their impedance rating than other manufacturers.

A quick Google search didn't turn up any graphs. A low impedance at a given frequency may not be a problem if the phase angle is pretty small or at least more inductive (positive). At least it's not one of their electrostatic speakers which is almost guaranteed to have a capacitive phase angle with a low impedance.

If your receiver has any sort of THX certification, I'd be willing to give it a try. The criteria for the certifications aren't public but the ones we know about include being stable into 4 ohms.

I also agree that maybe angling your existing speaker will be cheaper and you already know it works with your receiver. Then again, you don't get the fun of buying new gear.

Jim