Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners HK receiver and M80's 4 ohm load

Hello,

I have a H/K 520 receiver that is rated for 8 ohms. On H/K's website it states that their products will accept most 4 and 6 ohm loads, but that unit may go into protection mode. I emailed H/K and here is their response:

"Good morning and thank you for your inquiry. Harman Kardon receivers are designed to work best with speakers rated at 8 ohms. All Harman Kardon Audio/Video receivers can handle MOST 4 and 6 ohm speakers on the market today. However, there are some manufacturers' speakers that have a minimum impedance WELL BELOW the 4 and 6 ohm nominal impedance, when being fed a signal. In this situation, the receiver will attempt to protect itself by having the fan turn on. In the extreme case, the unit will protect itself by shutting down, and go into standby mode. This is an indication that the speaker in question is not compatible with our receiver."

My question is, should I go with the M80's or should I go with the M60's? I like the setup of the M80's with the dual tweeters and midranges, but I do not want to fry my H/K receiver.

Thanks,

Don

My understanding is that M80s only dip down to 4 ohms, so they don't fall into the "badly behaving" class of speakers HK mentioned. HKs seem to be pretty good with 4-ohm speakers (specifically M80s) -- I haven't heard any problems.

Welcome!

In reply to:

---

I like the setup of the M80's with the dual tweeters and midranges...

---

I do too.

Members of this forum rate HK very high and most say the HK line has more power than rated (75 watts per channel @ 8 ohm). M80s are very efficient. You should be fine unless you listen at deafening levels.

You could buy a 2 channel amp for the 80's and use the 520 as pre/pro. 80s do thrive on power.

I have to agree with Doug, the HK should be fine, but to really get the most out of the 80's give em mo power.

I would go for the M80s; your HK should have no problems pushing the 80s. Also the power will increase due to the 4 ohm load. Bridgeman is right on the 80s not being a difficult 4 ohm load, with that they are also a very efficient speaker.

You'll be fine with 80's and HK, as you would with Denon.

CB, welcome. A couple of years ago here the M80s were fairly frequently termed "an easy 4 ohm load", because of their relatively high sensitivity and flat impedance curve. This would still seem to be the case although it's not mentioned as much as previously. In most situations your 520 should work very well with the M80s.

Corsabrin, welcome! I've had my 80s connected to an H/K 635 receiver without any problems whatsoever. As previously mentioned, you should be fine.

Adding my 2cents into the mix, I have the HK630 and the M80's. The HK630 drives the M80's perfectly fine. I haven't had any problems with my setup. You should be good with the HK520.

DPR 2005 works fine too.....