Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 4 ohm vs 8 ohm

I have a pair of M22s powered by an Onkyo 595 receiver. I received a 4 ohm center channel speaker from my cousin as a birthday gift. Will the receiver have problems driving speakers of different loads since the M22s is rated at 8 ohm?

As long as the receiver can handle the 4-ohm load then you will be fine. The mixing of 8-ohm fronts and 4-ohm center is not a problem. The impedance of a loudspeaker actually varies widely with each frequency so when comparing the difference between a 4 ohm and 8 ohm speaker you are only dealing with a few frequencies where the impedance goes to its lowest level and even then it is an averaging game to get the nominal impedance.

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer

Ian, does this mean that he should have the setting on the recvr on 4 Ohm??

Hi Alex/Anonymous.

I have an OnkyoTX-DS797 and the owners manual states:
"If the impedances of all speakers are between 6 and 16 ohms, select "6 ohms". If the impedance of even one speaker is between 4 and 6 ohms, then select "4 ohms"."

I would assume that Onkyo receivers in the same family will probably function the same. Hope this helps. :)

b_man