8 ohms front speakers and 6 ohms subwoofer -- will it work?

[narenvaidee]

Hopefully, someone will shine some light here...

I'm buying a pair of 8 ohm, 50 watts bookshelves to be paired to an amp with 8 ohms 95 watts continuous. I have a 6 ohm subwoofer (passive) as well.

So, what happens when I plug in those two bookshelves (8 ohms) along with the 6 ohm subwoofer? Will it impact the operation of the amp? Blowoffs? Please let me know. Anyways, I'm not going to connect the sub without getting some tech gyaan from you guys.

Thanks,
Naren

 

[manniraj]

Hopefully, someone will shine some light here...

I'm buying a pair of 8 ohm, 50 watts bookshelves to be paired to an amp with 8 ohms 95 watts continuous. I have a 6 ohm subwoofer (passive) as well.

So, what happens when I plug in those two bookshelves (8 ohms) along with the 6 ohm subwoofer? Will it impact the operation of the amp? Blowoffs? Please let me know. Anyways, I'm not going to connect the sub without getting some tech gyaan from you guys.

Thanks,
Naren

You did not mention what the amp/receiver is as a passive sub cannot be connected to a subwoofer preout that most of the receivers have. You will be requiring a power subwoofer which has an in-built amplifier and the ohms of the sub (active) ones does not have a dependency for pairing with the amp/receiver. Only the all-in-one receivers have a connection to use a passive subwoofer.

 

[narenvaidee]

Oh, my bad. Forgot to mention the amp details. It's an Onkyo HTS 3100 AVR with a passive sub. I'm just replacing the speakers with JBL control 1. I know they will lack in bass, so thought I'd retain the subwoofer. But again, as I had mentioned, the JBLs are 8 ohms and the passive sub is 6 ohms. I don't want to fry the amp or speakers.

Should I or should I not include the passive sub in the equation?

 

[Deleted member 45006]

Most av receivers won't have an amp to drive a passive sub. Like what I mentioned if it doesn't have, then If you get the right subwoofer amp of 6 ohms it must do. If amp for sub is present in Reciever, it's not always a good idea to upgrade over stock sub as in HTIB's they are optimized to work with those systems. Mixing speakers of different ohms, or sensitivity mostly spoils the volume control linearity. I.e when u turn up the volume, the stuff with higher sensitivity will go louder faster.

 

[narenvaidee]

"Mixing speakers of different ohms, or sensitivity mostly spoils the volume control linearity. I.e when u turn up the volume, the stuff with higher sensitivity will go louder faster. " This makes sense! Thanks for the advise

I'll probably look for a used SW with 6 ohm impedance. Else, will buy a stereo amp and an active sub later on...

 

[spirovious]

Oh, my bad. Forgot to mention the amp details. It's an Onkyo HTS 3100 AVR with a passive sub. I'm just replacing the speakers with JBL control 1. I know they will lack in bass, so thought I'd retain the subwoofer. But again, as I had mentioned, the JBLs are 8 ohms and the passive sub is 6 ohms. I don't want to fry the amp or speakers.

Should I or should I not include the passive sub in the equation?

SW will work seamlessly as its passive and same which came with Onkyo 3100.
Now were your earlier Onkyo speakers 6 ohms(fronts,center etc)
Still amp will enjoy to drive 8ohm speakers better than 6 ohms any day.Please check your AVR manual if it can drive 8ohm speakers(mostly should).
Also many 8 ohm speakers can have minimum impedance of 4ohms.
In short there shouldn't be issue.

 

[narenvaidee]

"SW will work seamlessly as its passive and same which came with Onkyo 3100." - Yes, it's the same that came from Onkyo, but 6 ohms. The original onkyo speakers (front, rear, center) are all 6 ohms as well. Here's a link to the spec sheet for reference - http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/ht-s3100_manual_e.pdf

Thanks!

 

[spirovious]

"SW will work seamlessly as its passive and same which came with Onkyo 3100." - Yes, it's the same that came from Onkyo, but 6 ohms. The original onkyo speakers (front, rear, center) are all 6 ohms as well. Here's a link to the spec sheet for reference - http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/ht-s3100_manual_e.pdf

Thanks!

Thats what,SW hill have no issue. AVR has parallel amplifiers/power sections.They should not interfere each other.Secondly driving 8 ohm speakers are easier than 6 ohms.So you can safely use it.
I have tried 8 ohm fronts with 6 ohm center and there was never an issue as long as AVR has discrete amplification.

 

[narenvaidee]

Super, thanks! Can't wait to test them out. Will be posting how good/bad they sound. If the speakers don't sound good, I'll probably go for an entry-level or used stereo amp and place them in my bedroom.

If the latter happens, I have to hunt for an amp which is good and bad. Bad because that's some extra money outgoing from my pocket this month.

 

[narenvaidee]

From what I understand, the amp power must be 1.5-2 times the speaker power? If that's the case, how can amps like Topping or AudioEngine N22 power bigger speakers? This is confusing and interesting at the same time. If the claims are correct, these amps must be damaging these higher powered speakers by clipping. Shouldn't they?

 

[narenvaidee]

UPDATE:

So, I hooked the JBL Control Ones to Onkyo HTS 3100, and played 'Desh Ki Mitti' from Bose The Forgotten Hero (yes, use this as reference for my type of hearing). Was disappointed -- no soul in the music from the speakers. But, my bad. I forgot to change some variables on the Onkyo box.

I went to SP config, and changed the following:

Test 1:
Subwoofer: NO
Front: large
Other speakers: none
Sound quality: significant increase in music quality, and surprisingly, for speakers this small, the bass wasn't bad at all.

Test 2:
Subwoofer: Yes
Front: Small
Other speakers: none
Cross-over frequency: 100Hz
Sound quality: Much better than in Test 1 because of the base. But, the next test setting is keeping me very very very satisfied.

Test 3:
Subwoofer: Yes
Front: Small
Other speakers: none
Cross-over frequency: 80Hz
SP level: fronts @4db and sub @5db
Sound quality: Very nice, warm and perfect for my liking. Sticking to this until I get the funds to purchase a decent stereo integrated amp.

I auditioned Q-acoustics concept 20 bookshelfs at Decibel (chennai). Liked the sound signature, but couldn't justify the cost (almost 45k!). Then I thought Q-acoustics 2020i will be good, but again was not sure if I have to shell out 25k (actually only 134.99 in the UK). After considering import duty and other handling charges, if the cost is coming down to around 17k, I wouldn't mind. But why would I pay so much for a pair that's only worth 13500 rupees (134.99 x 100)? It's the same story for Qacoustics 2010i as well.

So, these JBL control ones that I bought for rs. 7192 gives me very good quality sound (with concept 20 as reference in my mind). I'm happy!

Thanks everyone, for clarifying my tech questions!