Hi I am going to buy this new sony amp and soon to buy a set of axiom speakers. I found the manual for tha reciever and it does have a 4ohm setting. I have only had speakers with 8 ohms before and I don't want to destroy any equipment. What I want to do is run the following speakers on this amp and want to know if it is possible or if I need a seperate amp for the front speakers.
M80 - Main Speakers
VP150 - Center
M22 - Surround
QS8 - Rear Surround
Thanks for any help you can provide.
You REALLY do NOT want to buy a sony amp! especially paired up with the M80s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not own M80s, hopefully others around here will chime in, brands known to drive the M80s are Denon, Sherwood, HK...
Personally, I would stay away from Sony. I have had nothing but problems with every single Sony product I have owned.
The 4 ohm setting will merely current limit, which is actually a pretty bad thing as far as the speakers and your use of them is concerned. Choose a different brand. I run my M80s off of an H/K 525, but I have a small room and modest listening habits. Others have found that they need external amps with M80s to achieve the volume levels they want.
If you're dead set on the Sony, get M60s.
I have an older Denon 1804 and it drives my M80s with out any problems what so ever. I have had a 3ohm load hooked up to it and still no problems. As Huztal said the recommended amps from Axiom are Denon, Sherwood/Newcastle, H/K, I know of a few that use Yamaha and still another very few using Onkyo. Your Receiver choice is not just Sony.
If you go with Onkyo, make sure it is the 805/875/905 family. The older models are not good with 4ohms.
Does that include your Sony sub-woofer?
No the subwoofer I have is from SVS is is the 16-46 PC Plus. They have the best subs ever. It can play tones down to 12 htz. It is so cool to hear your windows rattle and not hear a sound from the speaker. They have some cool stuff. svsound.com
Oops. Sorry. I meant my "Sony Sub-woofer" remark for Mojo (because of recent frankenteinian sub tests he did recently with the corpse of a Sony and the Heart of an Axiom), but forgot to prefix my message properly.
Actually Eric, that Sony sub has been an absolute brute and was an incredibly good purchase at $150. Interestingly enough, according to what I read on the boards years ago, Sony had absolutely nothing to do with the design of that sub. Maybe that's why it's so good (relatively speaking of course)
. I only had to varnish the back of the driver and stuff it with polyfill to make it shine.
I also would say not to use Sony. Also, you have not heard the Axiom DSP subs.
SD, welcome. If you do get the Sony receiver, disregard the 4ohm setting and leave it at 8ohms, regardless of the impedance of the speakers that you're using. These switches or menu settings are a required safety precaution to help prevent overheating. They do this by reducing the maximum voltage capacity, which also reduces the maximum current and power available, because of Ohm's Law. So, it limits overheating but also limits maximum performance and shouldn't be used.
That receiver and others can drive 4ohm rated speakers such as M80s; the question is how loud and how long. In many cases, unless operated at very high sound levels with materials having a very wide dynamic range, there would never be a problem.