4 ohm-stable amps and recievers

[placebo473]

What amps are you guys using to power your Emotiva speakers? Are Emotiva amps some of the few low impedance stable amps on the market or is driving them easy for just about every typical amplifier and reciever? I know a speaker's impedance profile varies with frequency but, Emotiva's speakers aren't rated at 4 ohms without significance. Thanks for your input.

[monkumonku]

Feb 28, 2010 13:24:39 GMT -5 placebo473 said:

What amps are you guys using to power your Emotiva speakers? Are Emotiva amps some of the few low impedance stable amps on the market or is driving them easy for just about every typical amplifier and reciever? I know a speaker's impedance profile varies with frequency but, Emotiva's speakers aren't rated at 4 ohms without significance. Thanks for your input.

Well if you want to be sure, drive the Emo speakers with an Emo amp. ;D Seriously, you do have to ensure that the amp you use will be stable when driving a 4 ohm load, and not all of them can do so. I use an XPA-2 for the fronts and XPA-3 for the center and surrounds and am very happy - the amps have no trouble driving the speakers. There are plenty of other amps out there that can drive a 4 ohm load but in my opinion, you get the most value for your money from Emotiva. Take a look at what you get for your money, not only in terms of power but also build quality. Emo is hard to beat.

[strindl]

Feb 28, 2010 13:24:39 GMT -5 placebo473 said:

What amps are you guys using to power your Emotiva speakers? Are Emotiva amps some of the few low impedance stable amps on the market or is driving them easy for just about every typical amplifier and reciever? I know a speaker's impedance profile varies with frequency but, Emotiva's speakers aren't rated at 4 ohms without significance. Thanks for your input.

Almost all separate power amps and even most receivers can drive a 4 ohm load. Many receivers may not be very happy about doing it though...and frequently they will have an impedance switch in the back that needs to be set to either 4 or 8 ohm depending on the speaker load.


What that switch does is limit the current output of the amp when driving 4 ohm speakers. to keep it from overheating and shutting down.

[placebo473]

Interesting. One more question. Does impedance factor into 'loudness' as sensitivity does? If I were to drive an 8ohm speaker with 87dB sensitivity with an amp rated at 125w at 8ohms would the 'loudness' be equal or not to an amp rated to deliver 125w into 4ohms driving a 4ohm speaker with a sensitivity of 87dB? Of course 'gain' being equal.

[eiger]

I drive my Emo ERD-1 4ohm speakers with an 805.

Set to 6ohm tho as I am driving 8 0hm fronts.

[broncsrule21]

I use 2 different Denon recievers to power the Emotiva speakers I own. Neither is rated for 4ohms. The 2808 powers ERD-1s, but I have external amplification on the rest of the speakers, so the Denon isn't taxed at all by the ERD-1s. A Denon 3300 powers a set of ERM-1s, I blast these, mostly in stereo and havn't had a shut down or heat issue yet. Just my experience, YMV.

[placebo473]

It seems when using most any reciever, you would have to exhibit some care driving a speaker rated at 4 ohms. I wasn't sure if this was a myth or not. It makes me think of cars requiring high octane.

[Pauly]

What about the DMR? I've never tried 4ohm speakers with it, but am contemplating getting the Emo speakers. The XPA-5 would eventually follow, but I would use the DMR's internal for a good while. Maybe 4-5 months. I would imagine the DMR would fine though, right?

[strindl]

Feb 28, 2010 18:34:48 GMT -5 placebo473 said:

Interesting. One more question. Does impedance factor into 'loudness' as sensitivity does? If I were to drive an 8ohm speaker with 87dB sensitivity with an amp rated at 125w at 8ohms would the 'loudness' be equal or not to an amp rated to deliver 125w into 4ohms driving a 4ohm speaker with a sensitivity of 87dB? Of course 'gain' being equal.

Impedance of the speakers does not factor into the loudness at all. The only way it has an effect on loudness is if you use a power amp, such as the XPA-2, which puts out considerably more power into a 4 ohm load.

[NorthStar]

My Onkyos, Yamahas, Denons, Marantz & Pioneer receivers all drive my 4-ohm speakers without any sweat at all. And these speakers are only 84 db (in-room) sensitive.
And if I will draw the graph of their impedance across the entire audio range, you'd see that they are indeed quite a tough load to drive. They touch the 4-ohm line at several places and with large sections indeed.
But I do find the Yammys and Onkys best with them. The other receivers are doing fine also, but they just loose some dignity overall.

[strindl]

My erm 6.2's now belong to one of my nephews who is driving them with a yamaha RXV1200 receiver that I gave him for Christmas back in about 2000 or so. That is rated for 80 watts per channel at 8 ohms and about 125 at 4 ohm. They sound really nice with that driving it.

A proper external amp would make them sound better of course.

[Deleted]

Feb 28, 2010 18:34:48 GMT -5 placebo473 said:

Interesting. One more question. Does impedance factor into 'loudness' as sensitivity does? If I were to drive an 8ohm speaker with 87dB sensitivity with an amp rated at 125w at 8ohms would the 'loudness' be equal or not to an amp rated to deliver 125w into 4ohms driving a 4ohm speaker with a sensitivity of 87dB? Of course 'gain' being equal.

Equal, based on your entirely hypothetical example.. (However, remember that the impedance specified by the manufacturer is seldom the impedance the amp sees and it varies by frequency. I usually try to find a pro review from S&V or HT magazines where they give measurements. Many times they will will comment on the impedance level that you should consider in buying an amp for those speakers.