8 ohm vs. 6 ohm

 

Nick Maloley
Hello all, I'm fairly new to home theater/audio and was wondering if somebody could set me straight on this. Is it better to go with 6 ohm speakers over 8 ohm? I am wondering if 6 ohm would deliver better sound, ie. clarity, power, depth, ect... I only ask because I see that every decent reciever out there delivers more power output with 6 ohm speakers and I really want to know how this affects things. Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 

Anonymous
Generally speakers impedance specs (ohms) are useless. It is possible for a speaker to measure 2 ohms in one part of the frequency range and 50 ohms at bass resonance. Fortunately most reasonably priced speakers will be above their published specs. Speaker impedance in all but a few cases will not relate to sound quality. Impedance is resistance and therefore any decent receiver will put out more power into the lower figure (i.e. 4 ohms vs 8 ohms). Unless you're an advanced audiophile, I would ignore the impedance rating entirely with the exception of using a really inexpensive receiver with speakers of a low impedance on the rear channels. Low impedance speakers put more strain on the power supply of a receiver and may cause said receiver to overheat. This is usually not a problem with more expensive units with better and larger power supplies. Be careful though as a larger power supply is not to be confused with a receiver rated for more power. Some lower powered but more expensive receivers can handled the lower impedances much better than their cheaper but higher powered counterparts.
 

is it ok to run 8 ohm speakers through a 6 ohm receiver?
 

Anonymous
Can I run my 6 ohm surround sound speaker set with my 8 ohm rated receiver? New at the game. Looking for answers.
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