Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions 8-ohm/ 6-ohm setting in AVR

Another example of clear doco for my yammie rxv-1800. Buried on page 10, it says:

"Check the type of the connected speakers.
If the speakers are 6-ohm speakers, set “SPEAKER
IMP.” to “6Ω MIN” before using this unit (see
page33). You can also use 4-ohm speakers as the front
speakers (see page117)."

The choices are "8-ohm min" or "6-ohm min"

Given that the M60s and the VP100 are 8-ohm, and the QS-8 surrounds are 6-ohm, what should I set it to? (I currently have it at 6).

What difference does it make?

Thanks and regards,
David

Set it to 8 ohm and everything will be fine.

David, this one comes up rather frequently, and it's primarily due to what I view as an overly cautious approach to lower impedances by both amplifier and speaker manufacturers. Setting the lower impedance setting in no way "optimizes" the amplifier for a lower speaker impedance, as some imagine and the manuals seem to imply. All this does is to to limit the maximum voltage that the power supply section of the receiver can output, and because of Ohm's Law(e.g., I=E/R, P=E[squared]/R), when the voltage is limited so is the current and the resulting maximum power capability. This helps prevent overheating and keeps the UL(Underwriters Laboratory)happy, but it can reduce maximum power output by about half, as Sound&Vision tests frequently show.

Disregard the language in the manual and leave the setting at 8ohms regardless of the impedance rating of the attached speakers.

Dave, this may explain your other post. Leave it on 8 ohms, even if you have 4ohm speakers.

Right. Thanks, all.

Regards,
David

PS I actually just changed it to 6, so probably doesn't explain other posts