Hello everyone! I have a problem with my reciever. When i added the new vp180 to my system the m80's took a turn for the worse. Their sound was "muffled" to think of a word. Yesterday i had a chance to sit down and play around to see why. I did some a/b testing with my old vp150. The sound was better from the m80's with vp150.I put on some rush and i notice that around -12 on my reciever the speakers were cliping on some songs. I did not want to do any more because i thought that i might damage my speakers. I went to best buy about a month ago to listen to the denon 4310cl and the salesman showed me the pioneer elite sc-27.I like the denon but the the pioneer just blew me away.I had the salsman use 4 ohm speakers on both recievers.(same speakers) I guess i could add a amp or buy a sc-27.I dont' know how much amp's go for but i can get the pioneer for 1199.What do you guys think? i'm going to have to get "the general"(wife) blessing also thanks

Put the switch back to the 8 ohm setting and try it again.

What is your current receiver? How is it configured? If it is configured for "6 Ohm speakes" or "8 Ohm speakers", it is alright, but if it is for "4 Ohm Speakers" switch it back to either 6 or 8 (depends on the receiver).

Hello i have a onkyo 705. It's set to 6 ohms thanks

Do you have the fronts set to small?

Hello guys & dolls...I'm fairly new to this HT....Do you have to set the ohm for each speaker you have??? I thought all you have to do is plug the speakers and your reciever will do the rest????

+1 try setting speakers to small crossed over to sub at 80hz

Strange you should be having this problem. The Onkyo is supposed to be a 100W THX Select 2 certified unit, so if those ratings are accurate and/or meaningful then you should have no problem driving M80's + VP180.

Also, you should not have been "blown away" by the differences between the Pio SC27 and Denon 4310. Both are excellent units and I'd be willing to bet that any significant differences you heard had more to do with (intentional or unintentional) setup/setting differences.

No, I'd just leave everything at 8ohm.

Hi AxorPar,

Alan, Axiom's Senior Audio Expert, has written a very interesting and informative article on Impedance. I'm sure that you will like it - http://axiomaudio.com/speaker_impedance.html

Hello, The front speakers are set at 80.the recievers does not have large or small speaker settings. There are only full range or at the cross over setting.I did some more a/b testing between the two and going from the 180 to 150 the reciever would just shut down. When i went from 150 to 180 it would not.Do you think that my reciever is on its last legs? any suggestions would help. thanks

Quadrule check the binding posts on the VP180 to make sure there is absolutely nothing that could conduct electricity touching both posts.

i would say that the receiver is not on its last leg...

i would say you are trying to get more power out of the receiver than it was designed for... with the M80's you have 2 4ohm speakers... now your running 3 4ohm speakers... that will create a LOT more demand on the receiver, the power supply that was used in that receiver probably can not handle the load of 3 4ohm speakers. 2 4ohm speakers + the rest of your speakers is probably right at the max of what it can handle, you were probably operating right at your equipments design limit the whole time, and didn't notice it... when you threw the 180 into the mix, it was just enough to push it past what it was capable of.

i would say, get a nice 2 channel amp, put the M80's on the 2 channel, and then use the receiver for the rest of your channels and you'll be fine. unless you want to buy another receiver...

You were on the right track, with making them use the 4 ohm speakers at the store, this time make them connect 3 4ohm speakers to whatever receiver your looking at buying.

I agree. Get a nice 2 or 3 channel amp (they're not all that expensive, if your'e looking at a $1000 receiver) and keep the Onk.

If that Onkyo has been running the 4 ohm M80s perfectly fine and it's just the VP180 that seems to be an issue another option I would personally consider is a single monoblock just for the center channel ... $350 from Outlaw.

Outlaw Audio

You're no fun.

thx for the link..it was very informative....Is a 14 gauge speakers wire sufficient enough or you need a 12 gauge?

you should tell us how long of a wire run you are planning. if you are going less than 10 ft 14 gauge would be fine. if your going father than 10 ft i would recommend 12 gauge. if you haven't bought wire yet i would tell you to get 12 gauge.. i have 10 gauge wire going to my L/R/C and 12 Gauge going to my surrounds. larger wire is almost always better.......

Hello, Thanks for all the replies due to my problem. I was outside all day today. I'll want to get into internet radio with a new receiver. So i might go to the pioneer sc 27.I would wait for the new sc37 but i am not interested in 3d.I can get the sc 27 at a good price. Thanks again and a happy fourth to all the people here.

I guess I don't have a choice on the wires...my 16 by 19 with cathedral ceiling bonus room are pre-wired with 14 gauge..

14 will be fine. i wouldn't worry about it too much.

Ax, welcome. For an excellent explanation of speaker wire in general by a veteran audio professional, together with a table of suggested gauges, study this . That 14ga should be fine to at least 40'. There's no significant benefit in using thicker, harder to handle wire unless the runs are extremely long, which might result in some frequency response fluctuations as the speaker impedance fluctuated.

Pat, this was a bit hard to follow; in your first post you said that things were better with the VP150, then you said that going from the VP180 to the VP150 would result in shutdown, but going from VP150 to VP180 wouldn't. In any case this doesn't seem likely to be an amplification problem; a short in the connecting wires or in the internal wiring in the center speaker which results in shutdown would appear to be a more likely suspect.

As to a new receiver, I'd suggest that you disregard that Denon/Pioneer comparison. As htnut commented, there's no way that anyone should be "blown away" by such a comparison if the test was fair and honest. These units are quite similar in respect to basic amplification and it's unlikely that a correctly run test would reveal any audible difference, much less one of "blow away" magnitude.