Speaker Impedance Matching to Amplifier | What You Need to Know!

Trying to match speakers to amplifiers, you'll have to look at speaker impedance to get the correct result. Make sure your amplifier rating and speaker impedance match up or you will have problems!

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Equipment used to film and edit:

Thank you for watching!
Don't forget to like and subscribe!

[audiofun]

There are some speakers whose impedance changes widely across frequency range. For example, here’s what Stereophile found after measuring impedance of popular KEF LS50s:
“Somewhat optimistically specified at 8 ohms, the LS50's impedance drops to 4 ohms at 200Hz and to 5.4 ohms at the top of the audioband.”

How does this affect the sound? Music has all frequencies in it: low, medium and high. Say, you have an amp that can deliver 20w into 8 ohm and you play a song relatively loud. Now when these speakers’ impedance drops to 4 ohms in low and high frequencies they will ask your amp to give them twice the power, 40w, in order to sound as loud as mid frequencies. If the amp can’t deliver all the required power you will hear tonal imbalance (not enough bass), the sound will be dynamically compressed or even unpleasantly distorted. Unfortunately not all amps or AVRs are capable to deliver double the power into 4 Ohms comparing to what they can deliver into 8 Ohms. Such amps will be a bad match to KEF LS50s or other speakers with similar impedance characteristics. Unfortunately, in most cases you won’t know if a speaker has impedance swings just by looking at its specs. You could try googling the measurements though.

[BirdManCinema]

Is there any benefits in running a lower ohm? My rz830 has 4 & 6 ohm settings in the menu. For example my 504c is 8ohm and so are my towers. Would setting my receiver to 4ohm provide it with more power per channel?

[jacobrosenberg]

What’s important that you have to set the level of each speaker manually, if for example, the avr is at 4 Ohms and the speaker is at 8 ohms. If that’s the case you have to double the level to get the same soundlevel as the other speakers. Denon avrs don’t recognize the Ohms when you do a measurement. You have to set the right level manually in the menue.

[tolerbearALTII]

Can you use 6 and 4 ohm wired in series together for a stereo system rated at 8 ohm max? It comes in at 10 ohms. Thanks.

[biju]

Hello dear

Bose double cube speaokers 4 to 8 ohms handle one speaker. then which is best ohms to setting the avr. Please advise 🙏

[fernandos.]

Awesome video. Answered my question I was looking for. Just bought a Yamaha receiver that is 8 ohms out of the box but says I can change to 6 ohms. I was watching a video regarding the Pioneer SP-FS52 standups I also bought and he said he would recommend leaving the receiver at 8 ohms even though the speakers are 6 ohms because it sounds better. From this video it sounds like it can cause speaker or receiver issues, is this correct?

[billingsoftwares]

Hi, can connect 8omhs 90w AV Receiver to 8ohms 10 w speakers. please answer, Thanks

[toai]

I just bought a Denon AVR with 70W @8ohm, and a pair of JBL speakers of 6ohm impedance. So to your advice, that's not a good match, right? Thanks

[arianbardez]

What about the Impedance Selector Switch on the back of my Yamaha as-301 amplifier ? Can I set it on 4-ohms and use 4-ohms Pioneer-6997 Car Speakers ?

[jonperez]

Idk why you don’t have more subscribers. You are the best at explaining things. Thanks for all the good info 👍

[danielbell]

Car audio guy here. I notice nobody is suggesting what we already do in our vehicles. Wire speakers together in parallel or series to change the ohms to what you need. Its easy. And get a multimeter for 6.99 at harbor freight and you can test all your speakers to see the actual number. 2 eight ohm speakers wired together in parallel drops the resistance by half. The amp no sees the 2 speakers as one 4 ohm load. But they have to share the available power between them. 2 eight ohm speakers wired in series will be 16 ohms. So you can use 2 four ohm speakers and wire them in series to acchieve a final 8 ohm load your amp will handle. This is everyday basic stuff in the car audio world. No offence meant.

[stallebrass]

Thanks. So I have a basic 5.1 home theatre set up... I want to upgrade to a 7.2.4 set up but don't really want anything more powerful so I thought about reusing existing speakers. I can get extra matching speakers for the extra channels. I checked the existing front right speaker and it says 3ohms... so I need an AVR with nothing greater than 3ohms for that channel. Can I double up the centre speakers on the same channel providing I don't exceed the impedance? Can I even get such an AVR? My 50" 4k HDR TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, what will display on the TV?

[Vigneshdba]

Sir I got yamaha yht 1840 which comes with full set ( Avr speakers), all the speaker has 6 ohms but I have one JBL center speaker which is 8 ohms, can I connect it or not?

[dinozersfor]

i have 3ohm speaker and subwoofer, can i connect it to 4ohms-16ohms that show on equalizer? sorry for my bad english

[xayrullarahimov]

Hello, good evening help please, I wanted to connect 5.0 speakers 4ohm 60wat to the denon avr-x1600h receiver, can I connect there will be no overheating

[OOnti-dzjd]

My Yamaha av receiver has a secret menu option to switch from 8 ohm to 6 ohms. My Q acoustic 3030i are 6 ohms. It’s on 8 ohms now. If I switch to 6 ohms will the Q’s get more wattage and be louder?

[DiCarpio-ykpd]

Hi, how do I get 6ohms from a McIntosh integrated amp when it has only 2, 4, & 8 ohms output?? Can I jumper the 2 and 4 ohms terminal ?

[keeloraz]

That’s All I wanted to know ! Perfect 👌🏾

[vaprmak]

I have the exact receiver(onkyo tx-8140) shown in this vid and the speakers I have connected(micca RB42) are rated 4-8ohms. Should I be using a different receiver? I really have to raise the volume quite a bit to hear and enjoy at good volume. Appreciate any help!

[mikej]

Does the watts rating matter at all in this? In other words, if you have a 100w amp(my fender champion 100w amp), what watt speakers can go back in for an upgrade? I understand the ohms side of this, but what about the watts? I am looking to put the best speakers I can find for my champion 100w?