What effect does an 8 ohm rated receiver driving 6 ohm rated, 90 sensitivity speakers have?

[Timothy E Smith]

I am driving a pair of JBL Monitor 580's (rated 6 Ohms, 90 sensitivity) as R & L in a 7.2 HT, all other speakers are super-efficient Klipsch models, subs (2) center, sides and rear surrounds, my YPAO settings on 'Auto set up' seem to lessen the power to the 2 JBL's am I imagining things?

 

[lovinthehd]

Monitor 580s or Studio 580s? The Studio 580 I assume. They're relatively sensitive and Klipsch generally overstates their sensitivity. Have no idea what you mean by "lessen the power" because of YPAO, tho. Easy to imagine things in audio, tho. Just what are the settings you're concerned about?

 

[KEW]

While it would be good to figure out why that is happening, at the end of the day, I wouldn't hesitate to simply adjust the level for the 580's to your preference!

Also, what Yamaha receiver is it? Usually they have a switch (which you should not use) for running low impedance speakers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Oh and doubt the receiver is having any issues driving 6 ohm speakers either...

 

[KEW]

Oh and doubt the receiver is having any issues driving 6 ohm speakers either...

Pretty sure I agree with you, but I am not sure how low Yamaha AVR's go.
I am thinking of the note that Yamaha uses with their R-N303 Stereo receiver:

CAN ONLY USE 8 OHM SPEAKERS. WILL NOT ALLOW A+B TO PLAY TOGETHER UNLESS SPEAKERS ARE 16 OHMS

I have never seen this before, but it seems like they are saying stereo speakers must be 8 ohm and if you use two pairs they must be 16 ohm speakers. I still might believe it could drive only one pair at 6 ohms, but have to wonder. This seems a major departure from the norms of a receiver being reasonably capable of driving typical speakers at typical levels!
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrn303bl/yamaha-r-n303-2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-stereo-receiver/1.html
PS - does anyone know of some good 16 ohm speakers?

 

[lovinthehd]

Pretty sure I agree with you, but I am not sure how low Yamaha AVR's go.
I am thinking of the note that Yamaha uses with their R-N303 Stereo receiver:

I have never seen this before, but it seems like they are saying stereo speakers must be 8 ohm and if you use two pairs they must be 16 ohm speakers. I still might believe it could drive only one pair at 6 ohms, but have to wonder. This seems a major departure from the norms of a receiver being reasonably capable of driving typical speakers at typical levels!
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrn303bl/yamaha-r-n303-2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-stereo-receiver/1.html
PS - does anyone know of some good 16 ohm speakers?

Might just be for all those who insist on hooking up two pairs of speakers to play simultaneously via A+B? Those guys generally might not think much about impedance in general. Then again can't see any good reason to have that R-N303 either . I suppose in general the 6 ohm speakers will drop to 4 or less at times so perhaps a small issue with some avrs at high enough volume levels. You have any trouble driving your 580s? I don't....

 

[KEW]

Might just be for all those who insist on hooking up two pairs of speakers to play simultaneously via A+B? Those guys generally might not think much about impedance in general. Then again can't see any good reason to have that R-N303 either . I suppose in general the 6 ohm speakers will drop to 4 or less at times so perhaps a small issue with some avrs at high enough volume levels. You have any trouble driving your 580s? I don't....

It is definitely for the situation where you are driving A + B, but I am used to seeing 8ohms minimum for driving A+B, not 16. To me, a 16ohm requirement seems very impractical and I have to wonder why they even allow for two sets of terminals.

Then again can't see any good reason to have that R-N303 either .

Yeah, but you read and understand the specifications (which puts you in the minority of customers).
It just seems like a disaster waiting to happen, but hopefully Yamaha is just being ultra conservative!

I definitely consider the 580's an easy load, but I have never used them in a 7 channel system, much less using an AVR not rated for 6 ohms!