[eclein]

Ok can someone educate me on ohms. My main speakers are 8ohms as is my AV Receiver, I'm looking for a new center and seeing some 4ohm ones...thats bad right?? 8ohm receiver out to a 4ohm speaker will be really load correct?? Thanks

[Wayner]

As a general rule, if you are running HT, it's nice to have all of the speakers with the same impedance, same efficiency and similar sonic characteristics. I would not recommend mixing up impedance. If you are running a multichannel amp, at least one channel is going to be running with more output power and may be a difficult load for the amp. Many speaker manufacturers like Salk, have speakers designed for HT that are voiced and electrically compatible to defuse these kinds of problems.

Wayner 

[eclein]

I got ya..so the 4 ohm speaker would be a bigger drain on the receiver. My receiver is a SONY STR DH800...110W X 7 at 8 ohms...will definitely stay with 8ohm...Thanks Wayner

[mjosef]

You can adjust speaker levels within the speaker set up menu. So if the tonal characteristics of the speakers are similar, no problem using a 4ohm speaker with 8ohm ones. Your only limitation would be ability of your receiver performance into 4ohms load.

[eclein]

So is it harder to drive 4 or 8 ohm?

[laserboi]

The lower the ohms the harder it is to drive if the receiver or amp's transformer was designed with 8ohm speakers in mind. 

[mjosef]

It all dependent on the amp's design. Some amps have no problem with 4ohm loads, other would at crazy loud volume. Does your receiver state any 4ohm speaker ratings in its spec. list?
Most main stream AVR are 6-8ohms spec'ed.