![]() Once they have enough clean power, imaging tightens up and dialogue becomes clearer. I find that they need a dedicated amplifier to run well even at lower volumes. While they can be run using a high-end AVR, ultimately they won’t sound their best. Take for example Jamo’s or M&K’s THX speakers. My experience is that – even though some beefier AVRs are rated for 4Ohms – they will still struggle to deliver enough power to 4Ohm speakers cleanly and there will be some areas of the frequency spectrum that will sound strained / not clear, even at lower volumes. What you need to remember is this: just because a speaker is rated at 4Ohms doesn’t mean that it won’t dip down lower into 3 or 2Ohms in certain parts of the frequency spectrum. But this is more the exception than the rule. For example, they may say it is a 4Ohm speaker with a minimum impedance of 3.2Ohms (at such and such frequency). The odd high-end manufacturer will quote the MINIMUM impedance the speaker has next to the overall impedance. Unfortunately, impedance is not uniform across the frequency spectrum. Of course, life would be simple if it was that clear cut. An 8Ohm speaker will be easier to drive than a 4Ohm speaker, and a 4Ohm speaker is easier to drive than a 2Ohm load. The lower the impedance of a speaker, the more power it needs to drive and therefore will be more difficult for a weaker AVR with its weaker amps to do so. There are two main things to consider with speakers: ![]() I am not a huge fan of this “voicing” by certain brands to be perfectly honest – whether deliberate or “an accident of the design process”. I know this because connecting an external power amp to some receivers will actually provide a slightly different sound – with everything else being equal – and even after re-calibrating the system multiple times, it consistently sounds different. Some AVR manufacturers like to “voice” the amps in their AVRs to sound more laid back or forward and this can impart some colouration to the sound. Of course, this isn’t the only issue to consider. This will improve the number of channels that can be driven simultaneously, provide cleaner power at higher volumes and a larger dynamic range when the action gets going. ![]() Lower-end models will typically include rather weak amplifiers and a weak power supply feeding those amps, while higher-end models will include better components, larger power supplies and beefier amps. Of course, not all AVRs are made the same. Divide that by the number of channels and that’s kind of your theoretical maximum. In a real-world scenario, even if we weren’t doing anything else with that power but drive speakers, you will only get around 1000 to 1200 Watts of power into 8 ohms. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out that ultimately, there’s only so much power you can draw from the wall – partly because of the law of physics and partly because of regulations in different parts of the World. Issue 1: AVR TypeĪVRs try and cram a LOT of technology into a single chassis that needs to drive the pre-amp, video and audio processing and more and more channels with one power supply feeding all these elements from a single power cord. ![]() Whether you run your speakers as small or large (full-range).There are 4 issues to consider when trying to answer this question: I wanted to cover this topic as I have some amplifier reviews coming in soon so I wanted to introduce the topic a bit more broadly before we get into it. ![]()
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