4 Ohm Speakers for 6 Ohm AVR - Will the AVR blow?

manojdaran

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Hello forum,

I recently spent lot of time on youtube trying to figure out proper way to build surround speakers from scratch. Initially, I have shortlisted component speakers [for car] and later found out that these speakers have 3-4 ohm impedance. My AVR is Denon X550 and its rated as 6 Ohm. So, connecting them will cause power loss and extreme case, let my AVR blow up? Then I started looking for Speaker drivers [6"] with 6-8 ohm and couldnt find anything that matches my requirements. As far as Im thinking, Im gonna need low range speakers with frequency less than 40Hz and mid range speakers ranging above 60Hz. But I couldnt find them all. Is there any available options that I miss? or the 3 ohm speakers do just fine? Suggestion guys..

BTW I have ordered Taga TSW 200 for my Sub.
 
mostly the speakers will blow if overdriven before the amp, as the speakers draw more current making the amp to clip. DC normally distorts the shape of coils. Woofers will have a rubbing / scratching sound once this happens. On tweeters distorted coils tend to sound more midrangy, masking the top end extension. Learnt the hard way. If you are sensible with the volume control, it wont damage, but again risk is always there.
 
mostly the speakers will blow if overdriven before the amp, as the speakers draw more current making the amp to clip. DC normally distorts the shape of coils. Woofers will have a rubbing / scratching sound once this happens. On tweeters distorted coils tend to sound more midrangy, masking the top end extension. Learnt the hard way. If you are sensible with the volume control, it wont damage, but again risk is always there.
Very good point. Adding to that my observation - lower impedance speakers cause generation of more heat in the AVR (due to the higher current as mentioned above). If AVR is not well ventilated, premature failure of AVR is very likely. If you have no choice but to use lower impedance speaker - then make sure that you cap your maximum volume in AVR setting (settings-audio-volume-limit) to 60-70%
 
most cases many ppl wont understand what exactly had happend to their speakers. I blowed a pair of 6 ohm Infinity Reference 31i woofers after my friends came home and after couple of drinks, I forgot that my test amp which was a 30w channel Marantz amp, was blasting at its max. The very next day, after the hangover I put on my Lootera CD and noticed, the Manmariya songs Guitar notes had some scratching sound along with it. That was back some years back. Had similar two incidents more later after that, every time I forgot this incident. Sometimes, you think it will be alright, reading all these sucess stories with mismatched impedances over the internet, but I am not one of those lucky ones.
 
4 ohm on a 6ohm receiver,in short best to avoid. Recipe for disaster to happen. More over the 550 is not known for its power, so get high sensitivity speaker for that receiver. Or hold if it has pre outs connect a crown or emotiva or a car amp to it as a power amp.

MaSh
 
Hello forum,

I recently spent lot of time on youtube trying to figure out proper way to build surround speakers from scratch. Initially, I have shortlisted component speakers [for car] and later found out that these speakers have 3-4 ohm impedance. My AVR is Denon X550 and its rated as 6 Ohm. So, connecting them will cause power loss and extreme case, let my AVR blow up? Then I started looking for Speaker drivers [6"] with 6-8 ohm and couldnt find anything that matches my requirements. As far as Im thinking, Im gonna need low range speakers with frequency less than 40Hz and mid range speakers ranging above 60Hz. But I couldnt find them all. Is there any available options that I miss? or the 3 ohm speakers do just fine? Suggestion guys..

BTW I have ordered Taga TSW 200 for my Sub.

Hi, you simply cannot do it! 4 ohm speakers must be mated with high end audiophile amplifiers that puts out lot of power. Considering your receiver (denonx550) capabilities, matching it with 4 ohm speakers will distress the receiver and eventually fail quickly (if driven harsh). There are several brands available as choices for you to select between 6 and 8 ohms and you just need to search them right (Taga, Yamaha Also, your idea to pick speakers based on high and mid range wouldn't work as I suspect your receiver isn't capable of filtering signals (crossover) per each channel. A pair of full range floorstanders would be of help as they house passive crossover for splitting single signal into high, mid and low frequencies.
 
Denon 550BT is not an amp with 6 ohm capability.
Look at the spec. It clearly says it can do only 70Wpc (2ch) 20-20K at 8 ohm with 0.08% distortion.
When running 5 speakers, expect the power output to be in the range of 30-50Wpc.
The 6 ohm numbers are meaningless; they are for a 1KHz signal and with 0.7% distortion.

Please don't experiment with low impedance or low sensitivity speakers; it is a recipe for disaster.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
Denon 550BT is not an amp with 6 ohm capability.
Look at the spec. It clearly says it can do only 70Wpc (2ch) 20-20K at 8 ohm with 0.08% distortion.
When running 5 speakers, expect the power output to be in the range of 30-50Wpc.
The 6 ohm numbers are meaningless; they are for a 1KHz signal and with 0.7% distortion.

Please don't experiment with low impedance or low sensitivity speakers; it is a recipe for disaster.

Cheers,
Raghu

No, 6 ohm speakers are safe and a lot better than 4 ohms as they were not designed to draw much power as 4 ohms speakers do. Most of the speaker manufacturers produce speakers in 6 ohms and there is absolutely nothing wrong in connecting denon550 with 6 ohms speakers. In fact it is specified on the back of receiver that speakers of impedance 6-16 ohms.
 
Thanks for all the suggestion guys. Ok, please suggest me speakers with more than 6 ohm. I dont want to buy speakers rather I want to build one from speaker drivers. @shankara.kris bro you said a tower speaker would suffice for low and high frequencies, I initially looked for Taga 506 floor standing speakers but I want to build one. If I have to make a floor standing speaker, can you suggest me speaker drivers.
 
Thanks for all the suggestion guys. Ok, please suggest me speakers with more than 6 ohm. I dont want to buy speakers rather I want to build one from speaker drivers. @shankara.kris bro you said a tower speaker would suffice for low and high frequencies, I initially looked for Taga 506 floor standing speakers but I want to build one. If I have to make a floor standing speaker, can you suggest me speaker drivers.

@manojdaran - I mentioned about floorstanders since you were looking to buy speakers for high and mid range frequencies to be hooked up to receiver that doesn't have channel level crossover settings. Floorstanders / decent bookshelf speakers with passive crossovers built in would split the signal of high mid and low to the tweeter, mid range driver and to the large woofer respectively. You can go on to build one by specifically asking for 8 ohms with sensitivity information stated (dB SPL). Philips, pioneers are some brands we can local markets. Visit the electronics market in your area, there's gotta be a shop for all speaker needs. Then get a passive crossovers (shout be in amazon.in) and then build a enclosure for it with your carpenter. I believe they may probably come around to the same price of taga 506.

Note - for ultimate low frequencies you must need a subwoofer.
 
Same prices as Taga 506. Hmm, If build one, myself probably I might get the experience at the cost of Taga 506 quality speakers. So, I will try it. and yes Im gonna visit nearby shops for speaker drivers. If Im not wrong, does brand plays a role in speaker quality [considering speaker drivers alone]. My subwoofer is on its way.
 
What is stated as 4 ohm is the nominal impedance and the actual impedance will not be 4 ohm. For the amplifier to short the impedance phase angle is also important. If the impedance goes to 3 ohm and the impedance phase angle of the speaker is greater than 60 degrees then the output will short. But if @ 3 ohms if the impedance phase is close to zero degree then nothing to worry.
 
My 2 cents:
1. Lesser impedance speakers will drive the amp output stage harder by drawing more current. This will make the amp run hotter, and likely shorten the life of the output devices.
2. If it becomes too hot, a decent amp should just shut down. Same with continuous excess output current. Most decent amps have output protection.
3. It won't clip unless your input level+gain is too high, and your rail Voltage low. Clipping happens because of excess voltage - when your output swing is more than the rail.voltage less losses
4. Speaker sensitivity has nothing to do with any of above directly. That only determines how loud your speakers sound for a given power output. Though I suppose that you may be more inclined to turn up the volume because your low sensitivity speakers don't play loud enough, and cause some of the issues above.

In short, it's not a good idea to continuously play low impedance speakers through your amp unless it is designed for it. But just connecting and playing it for a whole won't "blow" the amp
 
Thanks forum. I just bought harman Kardon 8" speakers | 8 ohm | 50 or 75W [not sure] and a mini tweeter from amazon as I couldnt find in the local store. Now, Im going to build one and choose a proper crossover. lets see how it goes
 
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