Mixing speaker Impedances (1 Viewer)

[autoengineer_70]

I'm not too happy with the sound of my center channel so I'm thinking about upgrading. My current speakers are all 8 ohm. Some of the centers I'm looking at are 4 ohm. I have a Denon AVR-X3000 receiver. Is it possible to run a 4ohm center with the rest of the speakers being 8ohm? I recall there's just a single 4/8ohm switch in the back. Ideally, I'd love to replace all the speakers with an upgrade, but I just paid over $600 for a new sub and there's my wife.... Trust me as a married man. It will be much smarter for me to do this piecemeal and I'll be able to get better stuff this way vs buying it all at once!

 

[JohnRice]

4ohm speakers aren't a good idea with any receiver, really. Changing a switch to 4ohm just cuts back on the power available, and with most receivers you set it for all the speakers, so I wouldn't generally do that for one speaker, unless the receiver is shutting down at high volume. The fact is, receivers just aren't made to drive 4 ohm speakers. That switch they have does protect the receiver, but you lose a lot of power. It just protect the receiver from overheating. It depends a lot on how loud you play things. Sorry to go around in circles, but it's kind of a "six of one and half dozen of another" type of situation. My main system is made up of all 4 ohm speakers, which is part of the reason it uses separates. A preamp/processor and external amps instead of a receiver.

If you have specific questions, I can provide more specific answers.

 

[Todd Erwin]

What center speaker are you upgrading from and to?

 

[JohnRice]

Often the problem with the center channel is just that the level is too low, which makes dialog difficult to understand. You can turn it up manually.

 

[autoengineer_70]

What center speaker are you upgrading from and to?

I have Phase Technology Teatro 4.5 surrounds and 6.5 center. I was looking at the Emotiva Airmotiv C1+ Center.