Will my Jamo E550 towers ( rated 4 Ohms 100/140W long/short)not fry or go mad if I connect them to Denon 2105 which I presume delivers something around 170W @ 4 Ohms. Will I be able to use atleast half the volume level?
Your reply is both assuring and alarming! The 2105 manual says
" The protector circuit may be activated if the set is played for long times at high volumes when speakers with an impedance lower than the specified impedance(for example with an impedance of lower than 4 Ohms)are connected. If the protector circuit is activated the speaker oputput is cut off.Turn off the set's power wait for the set to cool down improve the ventilation around the set, then turn the power back on."
This is scaringly close to your analysis. Now in a day or two the towers and speakers are arriving. Can we trust Denon when they say impedance of less than 4 Ohms and not exactly 4 Ohms? I mean should I provide some hedging by opting for 6 Ohms or not worry about the rare scenario(!). Kindly advise.
The problem is that a 4-ohm nominal speaker is not always going to be at 4 ohms... sometimes the load will dip below that, and sometimes it will be higher. If Denon claims the 2105 can handle 4 ohms, then you should be alright as long as you don't play at high volumes for long periods of time... monitor your receiver to make sure it doesn't get too hot, and make sure it has good ventilation.
Ok Thank You. Though the salesman and the technician assured me on this, I have this nagging feeling that I will be powering the towers with lowest cut off impedance ( Denon mentioned 4,6, 8,16 Ohms). Now I am somewhat back to myself. Here in India (Hyderabad) we have very limited choice with regard to AV Receivers and speakers. Besides, Jamo does not have the speakers with 6 Ohms that suit my budget. Thank you for your assurance. So I have prepared myself to welcome Denon 2105 and Jamo E550 FLRS.
Vijjy - Jamo speakers are generally well made and reliable. I don't think that they will dip down below the 4 ohms impedence they quote, and if they do it will most likely be a negligible amount for a negligible amount of time.
Thank You Stu Pitt. This weekend I will be having the towers and the receiver. So now I can rest assured that I have not made a bad decision. Thanks for your interest and assurance. -Vijjy
I had to send my Denon AVR 885 (the brother model of the 2105) in for repair after a night of running my Polk Audio SDA 2's. I would not recommend using the 2105 with 4 ohm speakers.
It seems I am back to square one. So far( 4 days old!) Denon 2105 has been giving good performance. I tried at around -8db for nearly one hour. I do not know whether that "test" was good enough. But that was loud enough for me to sit in another room. Nothing untoward happened. But even Denon did not recommend 4 Ohms. But neither it did say "NO" also. At the back of the receiver it was written as "6Ohms-16 Ohms A or B A and B". Besides potential amp load are there any other factors that affect the audio quality. Oh! Jet2001! I thought everything was and is OK. BTW I have a doubt! How do you rate Polk Audio SDA 2 vs. Jamo E550?
I have never heard Jamo speakers...but I love the SDA's. The sound stage is huge and imaging is better than anything I've ever heard. I can't wait to buy a decent amp to run them with. They sounded quite nice on the Denon, but after about two hours, the Denon shut down and I had to take it into the shop...thank God for warranties. The Denon is outstanding for my HT, I'm very happy with it...but two channel stereo...there are better options.
OK. Just saw some good reviews on SDAs. Seems they are class apart altogether. Congrats Jet 2001 for being the proud owner of Polk Audio SDA 2's! Now I am not worried about the load factor 'cause I will always play the amp at reasonable level with good ventilation. But I do not know if the audio quality suffers if I connect a speaker (4 Ohms)that is not explicitly recommended by Denon. So far I am "unable" to find any degradation in quality. May be that I do not have any comparison. Now I am planning to go for POLK AUDIO RTi6 Bookshelf speakers rated 8 Ohms for the surrounds. Is the choice Ok? Or will there be timbre /tonal mismatch? Because I could not find 8 or 6 Ohms speaker in Jamo range that match the wattage and my budget. Your advice please!
Well, I'm a biased Polk fan...the RTi6 is a very good bookshelf speaker. I have the RTi4's in my home theater.
Timber matching for surrounds is not as crucial as it is for the front sound stage. However, if you listen to multi-channel music, having a complete timber matched system will sound better. Let your ears be the judge. My surrounds aren't timber matched to my fronts and I don't hear any difference.