Need assistance in buying new speakers!!!

[Hi Def Cow]

Alright, so here's hoping you guys won't laugh me out of the forum, as I get the feeling from some of the topics you guys are discussing that I'm about as uninformed as one can get, but... I'm looking to finally upgrade my speakers. I upgraded my receiver several years ago and have been very happy with it, but I've been using it with (admittedly decent) HTIB speakers from an older set.

Now Amazon has this on sale, and I'm reaaaaally tempted at that price and with some of the reviews it has:

http://www.amazon.com/Jamo-426-HCS-W.../dp/B003GGXGU6

Now in reading those reviews, I've noticed that it's starting to get into how many Ohms the speakers are rated for and such. One review mentioned that one reason some of the other reviewers may not be happy is that their receivers are set by default to 8 ohms.

Alright, confession time: I have no idea what an ohm is. I've tried to read up on this stuff, but every time I do, within a few sentences they've gotten so technical that I'm completely lost. *If* I'm understanding this stuff right, I take it an ohm is basically how much power these things suck up?

So I looked at the backs of my current speakers and, sure enough, 8 ohms. Now I'm trying to figure out if my beloved receiver is capable of working with these speakers. I dug through the whole manual and the *only* mention I see of ohms and compatibility is on one of the very last pages.

I have a Denon AVR-590. The page that mentions the ohms bit is the attached file.

So that's everything! I'm trying to figure out if I can drop $170 for a spectacular (compared to what I currently have) set of speakers, and if they'll actually be compatible with my current system. I got lucky when I initially bought the receiver and hadn't ever even heard the term "ohms" and that everything ended up working. I don't want to buy a new set of speakers now and have it turn out to be a waste of money. Any and all pieces of advice are appreciated gentlemen!

[lucv13]

You'll be fine with the 6 ohm speakers, if you look in back of your manual page 58 under "Specifications" right at the top in the "Audio Section" it gives you the power outputs for both 6 and 8 ohm loads... Enjoy the Jamos


EDIT just noticed that you have a jpg of the specs at the bottom of your post - this is the page I was talking about, it clearly shows that the receiver is capable of handling the 6 ohm load -

[Hi Def Cow]

Groovy. I had noticed that it said 6 ohms was one of the supported ranges, so I assumed I'd be cool. What I'm still curious about is what the other bits after that mean. For example where it says (approximately):

Front:
110 W + 110 W (6 ohms, 1 kHz with .7% T.H.D.)

I'm assuming that means my receiver can handle a 110 watt front left and a 110 watt front right speaker?

After that, what is the 1 kHz and .7% T.H.D. referring to? Is this even anything I should worry about? I've been slowly but surely learning my home theater stuff for the last ten years ever since my Dad bought a 51" 1080i projection TV when I was 14, so I've learned a lot of stuff, but if there's one area of home theater I'm still admittedly pretty much in the dark about, it'd definitely be the audio portion.

[lucv13]

Originally Posted by Hi Def Cow

Groovy. I had noticed that it said 6 ohms was one of the supported ranges, so I assumed I'd be cool. What I'm still curious about is what the other bits after that mean. For example where it says (approximately):

Front:
110 W + 110 W (6 ohms, 1 kHz with .7% T.H.D.)

I'm assuming that means my receiver can handle a 110 watt front left and a 110 watt front right speaker?

Just means that your receiver will be outputting 110 watts to drive the 6ohm speakers so it will be working a little harder than it would with 8 ohm speakers but still within it's capabilities

After that, what is the 1 kHz and .7% T.H.D. referring to? Is this even anything I should worry about?

Nothing for you to worry about at this stage of the game they're just referring to Total Harmonic Distortion (also beyond my realm of knowledge

I've been slowly but surely learning my home theater stuff for the last ten years ever since my Dad bought a 51" 1080i projection TV when I was 14, so I've learned a lot of stuff, but if there's one area of home theater I'm still admittedly pretty much in the dark about, it'd definitely be the audio portion.

That Jamo set of speakers looks like a nice entry level set, and with the sale you should be rocking in no time...

[Hi Def Cow]

Thank you! You are a gentleman *and* a scholar. And yeah, at that price point, I plan to snap them up soon. Only issue is the finish doesn't match the rest of my stuff, but... nothing a bit of paint and some re-finishing can't help, and my father happens to be quite good at both, so I may make a trip up to their place for a bit of help.