[awm]

Can any of the new digital receivers drive 4 ohm speakers?  Or, regardless of manufacturer recommendations, has anyone tried?  I have the Panny 45 and it's rated for only 6 & 8 ohms and one of the pairs of speakers I have is 4 ohm...  

Thanks very much,
Andy

[ABEX]

There are [lenty of people using the 45 to drive 4ohm speakers that I have run across.

Go to AA or here at AC and do a serch of "Panasonic XR-SA45 and read their system components used.

It might help.

[Dmason]

Class D amps generally are well capable of stably driving 2 Ohm loads.

People are commonly using them for driving their Apogees which sport impedance moduli down to abit under 1 Ohm! In fact, Class D is becoming a standard for those owners because of the load-invariant nature of these amps...

ex: I know one person using the Panasonic 45 I sold him to drive the daylights out of his Magnepan 1.6's with stunning results.

[ABEX]

Geez, Apogees!

No one mentioned Apogees as speakers that would be worth having in  a thread I recently read. They are the speakers I would most likely want to use for testing for Imp. driving characteristics of any amp and if the class D's can handle that load I know they will handle anything most audiophiles will use.

Cannot explain some peoples results as a few have stated they have had trouble with a few particular speakers,but I do not know weather they had done simple exchange of the PC's or other things.

Just thinking!

[awm]

Thanks for the responses.  Would any of you anticipate any problems running 4 ohm speaks TOGETHER with 8 ohm speaks in an HT set-up?  

Thanks,
andy

[ABEX]

No,but I would change the PC from the stock one if you have not already.

Good luck!

[Dmason]

The only problem I could forsee with respect to impedance issues would be volume balance; For a given volume, the 8 Ohm speakers will be very noticeably louder. I hope those are your fronts, or you are able to attenuate volume of individual speakers.

Other than that, the timbre of the speakers will be different; Different speakers, different timbre. For MT arrangement it is considered preferable to use similar speakers within a line or similar drivers within a design. Good luck, it wouldn't stop me from going ahead, OR enjoying it.

[awm]

Good.  I was worried more about stability problems.  The Panny allows one to adjust the level of speakers individually, so their relative loudness will not be a prob.  

They (the M8a mkIV's, actually) are to be used as my surrounds.  The reason I want to use them is 1) they are almost full range, and I have a pair of full rangers as the mains and have found that having essentially full range in all of the speaks in a HT set-up greatly enhances the realism; and 2) my current surrounds, the Ellis 1801b's, I want to move to my bedroom.  

The timbre issue has not been as great as I originally thought it might be.  Several experienced listeners have heard the current setup and loved it.  Having heard a number of HT systems myself, I think that, in several respects, having all full range is more important than driver consistency, assuming you use a pretty decent level of drivers to begin with.  (I'm sure this is borderline heresy to current HT orthodoxy   Oh, well.)  

I will be adding a JBL 1500 to do sub duties for the ~30hz and below, LFE territory.   ABEX, i haven't changed the PC and really have no plans on doing so.  While I'm sure it might improve things, they're already pretty darn good and, heck, it's my HT in my basement.  I doubt I could hear the difference watching and listening to just movies, with their incredibly varied soundtracks, dialog, explosions, etc.  If it were in my 2-channel main system, I might consider it.

The mains, for those of you wondering, are the Eton 11.2's.  I have two pairs, and the other is in my main reference 2-channel system, driven by a Transcendent Stereo OTL.

Thanks again for your help.

Andy

[Dmason]

If this is your HT only system, and you have chosen OTL type stuff for upstairs, who could care less?    Jumbo subs for under 30Hz?   This thing sounds more like a ride, than a sound system. I LOVE it.    Where are you located?

In this type of app., the Panny is perfect; It can thrash a bunch of speakers all night long and do a great job. It's like a Swiss Army Knife....With speaker level controls, you are all set.

PM about what's upstairs, that is one frontier I've not yet explored.

[awm]

Yeah, I must admit I've been pretty pleased with the results of the HT.    And, I know what you mean about the monster sub for subterranean levels.  It really will make it a ride.  I really don't need one and have been happy with the results without it, but I have it and would like just a bit more floor shaking with T-rex stompings...     It'll be powered by a 1000w plate amp from PE.  The external dimensions of the box will be golden cuboid, since internals really don't matter at these frequencies...  
The weak point of the whole HT system is actually the TV.  It's a 32" JVC, which, while it has an excellent picture and was had for a song, is just too small.  I'm looking into a CRT or LCD projector...  But, that's down the road a bit.  

The upstairs system is:
Eton 11.2
Kimber 8tc
Transcendent Stereo OTL
Transparent IC's
Transcendent Grounded Grid pre (scratch-built) with CBS/Hytron 5814 triple mica black plates and Multicap film/foil coupling caps, hexfreds, etc.
Home-made silver IC's
modded ART
Monarchy DIP II
DH 75 digital cable
Anthem CD 1 used as transport
all plugged into a Transcendent Balanced Power Supply.

It sounds good enough for now.  

The other upstairs system is (or will be tonite) the master bedroom one:
Ellis 1801b
Kimber 8tc
Creek 6060 integrated
cheap IC's
Pioneer PD-65

Also good enough for now...

I'm in Shoreline, WA.  You?

Andy