Video Asylum

Posted by mbr12 (A) on October 14, 2008 at 14:20:53

In Reply to: RE: 4 ohm loads for HT Receivers posted by Mandarin on October 03, 2008 at 17:52:25

I hooked up my Totem Mani-2 to my Denon 4306 (130 wpc) receiver to see what it would do. The Totems are rated at 4 0hms, but drop to 3 0hms. The Denon drove the Totems and they sounded fine, but the receiver got very hot so I shut it down before it shut itself down. This was in 2-channel.
If your speakers are rated at 4 ohm, it's a sure bet they drop lower than that at times. The wattage of the receiver is not the issue, the current is.
Multi-channel a/v receivers may have high wattage ratings, but they can't be trusted and their power supplies and the puny capacitors are not capable of delivering the current necessary to supply 5 or 7 channels long term. Even Denon says their receivers are high current and able to drive low impedance loads. Then their manual says to use 6-16 ohm speakers. That's hardly low impedance.
What I have been doing is using a Denon receiver with the front pre-outs driving a high-current power amp for the front speakers and the receiver powering the other surround channels. It works very well.
Good luck and happy hunting.