Using speakers with a different ohm rating

[holtyuk]

Hi,

I'm looing to get a couple of KEF in-ceiling speakers to replace my current rear surrounds. The ones I'm looking at (Ci 100QR) are rated at 4 ohms while the rest of my speakers are 8 ohms.

Does that matter? I believe 8 ohms is pretty standard so I'm not sure if these are meant for specific stereo use rather than in a 5.1 system.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[KUBBY]

Hi,

Just to give us a clue,What Amp are you using?
(My Onk 605 tells me to set the resistance setting to 4ohm if I have ANY one speaker at below 6)

K.

 

[BlueWizard]

The speakers relative to each other doesn't matter that much. For example, 8 ohm in front, 6 ohm in the rear, doesn't matter.

But the speaker impedance relative to the amp does matter. With a typical stereo amp, you should have no problem driving a 4 ohm load. However, some AV amps don't like load lower than 6 ohms. So, what you can do with your amp, depends on your amp and the speakers you are using with it.

If it is a 4-ohm stable amp, then no problem. Or, for rear speakers where the load is light, you might be able to get away with it, but again, it depends on your specific amp.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[fenton92]

Don't forget to calibrate the speaker levels. The 4 ohm will likely be louder than your 8 ohm speakers because your receiver is feeding it more power for the same voltage unless of course the 4 ohm speaker sensitivity is quite low.

 

[holtyuk]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, I think I've changed my mind about those speakers now though.

Cheers!
Simon

 

[l!3ard]

Sorry to hijack this thread

Anyway, i hope someone can help me out...if i connect an amp (Yamaha RX-465 or 565) to speakers that are 8 ohms, will that be ok?

I believe both Yamaha is 6 ohms....

The speaker ratings are 80-100w @ 8 ohms