combining 6ohm and 8ohm

[guitarist155]

i have been meaning to get a spl meter but i wouldn't get it from radioshack i will probably get an analizer from BSW

[Collectors Set]

Originally Posted by MatrixS2000

This is the right answer...you want the receiver to be setup for the lowest load.

Setting it up for an 8ohm load and feeding it 6 is not the same as setting it up for 6 ohms and feeding it 8. When it comes to speaker impedence, higher than rated is ok, lower is not.

Thanks for this tidbit. So a buddy of mine has four in-ceiling speakers that he "inherited" in his new room he is renting, but he has no clue or way of finding out if they are 6 ohms or 8 ohms. He knows for sure they are not 4 ohms, because a DVD player/receiver with 4 ohm capability shut itself off within hours of plugging them in.

So he got a new higher end Sony receiver, so in order to hedge himself, he would need to set the receiver for a 6 ohm load, because you would not want to set the receiver for an 8 ohm load and feed the speakers an 8 ohm load if in fact the speakers are 6 ohm????????????

Conversely it is OK to have your receiver set at 6 ohm and feed the 8 ohm speaker a 6 ohm load?? Do I have this right?? Would 8 ohm impedance capable speakers depreciate in performance quality at all in this scenario if your receiver setting is for 6 ohm?

Thanks

[gearyt]

have your friend be careful... it is how the speakers are "ganged" that
will impact more

Wiring the speakers in parallel will lower the impedance, wired in series will increase it

IE: 4 ohms in series with 4 ohms = 8 ohms

4 ohms in parallel with 4 ohms = 2 ohms !!!

[gearyt]

Originally Posted by Collectors Set

Conversely it is OK to have your receiver set at 6 ohm and feed the 8 ohm speaker a 6 ohm load?? Do I have this right?? Would 8 ohm impedance capable speakers depreciate in performance quality at all in this scenario if your receiver setting is for 6 ohm?

Thanks

OK.. as above, the speaker is the load, the amp the source
8 ohm speakers with a 6 ohm amp = ok
6 ohm speakers with a 8 ohm amp = heat / shutdown at hi volume

[Collectors Set]

Originally Posted by gearyt

OK.. as above, the speaker is the load, the amp the source
8 ohm speakers with a 6 ohm amp = ok
6 ohm speakers with a 8 ohm amp = heat / shutdown at hi volume

Right. Thank you I appreciate your time. He also tried hooking up a Stereo Receiver that is 12 years old with 8 ohm impedance, but the watts capacity is a mere 15. Its basically a cheap and old receiver.

The speakers are less than 18 months old, so new. Anyways, after cranking the volume for a couple days because you could really hear nothing unless the volume was really turned up high; there was a bit of a burning smell and no sound.

So I am wondering #1 if the speakers even still work now and if we can gather from this that the speakers are not 8 ohms and must be 6 ohms or is it possible that the receiver itself was so old with a mere 15 watt capacity that the speakers needed more watts per channel and the impedance had nothing to do with it.

Any thoughts appreciated. It sounds like his only option is going with a 6 ohm receiver.