Many, many moons ago I had a 40 watt/channel Technics receiver and I didn't know what I was doing really. I had some unknown bookshelf speakers. All I knew was that I wanted big sound. I happened to go to a local electronics store and found and purchased this monstrous pair of Ultralinear floorstanders. They turned out to be 4 ohm speakers. That 80 watt Technics gave these pups all they wanted and more.
Considering this, I have always been skeptical when it comes to claims that a receiver can handle a 4 ohm load vs those that can't. I'm not saying that Nad, HK and Denon aren't superior in this respect to the likes of Sony, Yamaha and Pioneer. I suspect that maybe vintage receivers drove any speaker you could through at them and there may have been a few too many cut corners over the years among all manufacturers. They all seem to have issues.
