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
Posted on
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.