4 Ohms Speaker set, which AV Receiver?

[TnA200]

Hello all,

Our beloved Onkyo 875 is displaying signs that it may expire on us in the near future. First the memory chip failed and was replaced by Onkyo, now the display has ceased to work and it randomly changes inputs and makes viewing a movie a pain. It is off to our local Onkyo repair center tomorrow. So as a precationary measure I thought I'd start looking for likely candidates to replace it.

I recently bought a Marantz PM6005 for the dining room and was so impressed I thought perhaps the Marantz SR7008 might be a great choice, esp as music is an important part of our daily mix and movie night, though a big deal, is only once a week. With that in mind I've stared to research... only to find that most receivers are rated at 6-16 Ohms! What about 4 Ohms??!!

Only Onkyo seem to rate their AVR's at 4-16 Ohms. I was hoping to not go the Onkyo route again, only as a last resort.

I'd appreciate any help in finding an appropriate 4 Ohm rated AVR in the same £800-1000 price range.

Cheers.

 

[bigboss]

Yamaha Aventage receivers are also rated at 4 ohms:

http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/aventage-series/?mode=series#tab=product_lineup

 

[TnA200]

bigboss,

Appreciate the heads up, I will look into it. I was always a bit tempted by the Yamaha AVR's but never really got around to looking into them as when time came for me to buy Onkyo were riding high in all reviews. Time for a revisit! Thanks.

I'm open for any other recomendations too.

TnA200

 

[mmg]

All Pioneer SC receivers support 4Ohm speakers. Denon doesn't officially, but they test their receivers with 2Ohm loads.

 

[TnA200]

Hi mmg, this is what i found on the Pioneer page.

http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/42/98/405/SC-LX77-S/specs.html

• Power output per channel: 210W
• Condition: 1kHz, 1% THD, 6Ω
• Rated Power Output: 210W per channel
I like the Pioneer range and the SC-LX77-S was on my radar, esp with their highly rated iOS app, but the 6Ohms spec made me reconsider. Similar to Marantz, Pioneer list 6Ohms as the normal level.

Marantz 7008:

Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 1% 1ch Drive) - 200 W

Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz, 0.7% 2ch Drive) - 165 W

Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.08% 2ch Drive) - 125 W

Only (as per BigBoss) Yamaha appear to clearly list 4Ohms for their AVENTAGE AV Receivers.

--- 220 W per channel (4 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.9 % THD, 1 ch driven [European Model])

I know my Onkyo can be used in 4 or 6 Ohm mode, and it appears the newer ones can be used at 4 Ohms too, but I haven't as yet come across any of the the other Japanese brands that list their receivers as such.

Onkyo TX-NR838: Dynamic Power 300 W (3 Ω, Front) 250 W (4 Ω, Front) 150 W (8 Ω, Front)

I am of course tempted to check out Rotel, Arcam, NAD etc. and a few of the other higher end brands, but I think their price will reflect their status and perhaps be a level too high.

Thank you for your comment. I will look into it further.

TnA200

 

[mmg]

Hi TnA,

On the page you mention (http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/42/98/405/SC-LX77-S/specs.html), the 5th item in the list is "4Ω Speaker Support". As you can see, there is a checkmark showing the amp supports 4Ohm speakers (this is the case for all Pioneer SC receivers).

It's true that they don't list the power output at 4Ohms, but this is because AV receivers are most often measured at 6Ohms (with regular amps this is 8Ohms). If you want to know the power output at 4Ohms, it should be about 1.5 times the power output at 6Ohms.

 

[TnA200]

mmg,

My apologies, you are 100% correct. Don't know how I missed that! It's been a hectic day!

Well that is good news because as I mentioned Pioneer AVR's were near the top of my list (with Marantz) and now I'll have to do my research and check them out thoroughly.

Thanks for pointing that out!

TnA200