Can a HK AVR 235 drive 6 ohm speakers?

[elbarono]

It's rated for 8 ohm speakers but claims to be a 'high current' amp.. Will I encounter problems trying to drive 6 ohm speakers on this?

Is there a 5-channel amp in the $500 price range than can drive 6-ohm speakers? Can anyone recommend one?

What about using a 2 channel amp for the mains and using the receiver to drive the surrounds ? Given the same budget for the amp ($500) would this give me substantially better performance out of the mains for stereo listening?

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I started looking through the reviews section but there are hundreds of amps on there.

[RGA]

6ohm speakers will be ok to run of an amplifier rated as 8 ohms.

High current means nothing. The problem with all of these goofball marketing slogans is that people are basing buying decisions off numbers of watts, "high current" etc.

An 8ohm amp will drive most 4 ohms speakers as well if the 4 ohm speaker doesn't dip too low for too long...but generlaly those are incompetant speaker makers (electrostatic speakers as a possible exception).

[elbarono]

I agree that there are a lot of misunderstandings around about receiver power, current, etc. But the simple fact is that an amp capable of handling higher current *should* have an easier time driving a lower impedance.

After all, power and current are essentially the same thing. They are directly proportional to each other.

I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to damage or blow my receiver by hooking up 6ohm speakers.

[NickWH]

That receiver will be fine driving five or six 6 ohm speakers. I had my AVR 220 running five 6 ohm nominal Allison Acoustics speakers, they were 90dB sensitivity, no issues.

It's when you attempt 4 ohm nominal impedence speakers that you might run into trouble. Sure, one pair of 4 ohm speakers will be OK. But multiple 4 ohm speakers will at least make the receiver run too hot, or at worse cause it to go into overload protection.

What is the sensitivity of the speakers?

[malibushirl]

Hi there,

I'm going to suggest that instead of looking for a new amp under 500.00(good luck finding one that isn't a piece a crap)you look into getting your hands on a used Harman Kardon Citation 16 model. These things were /are amazing amps. Truly when HK was at their height and considered a class A/B amp. You can usally pick one up for about 300-500 on ebay. They will drive a 6ohm speaker. They pack between 150-175 watts and if you find you like this amp the cool thing is you can mono-block and get another one and then have one amp to drive each front speaker. Whhooohhhooooo.
Enjoy.

It's rated for 8 ohm speakers but claims to be a 'high current' amp.. Will I encounter problems trying to drive 6 ohm speakers on this?

Is there a 5-channel amp in the $500 price range than can drive 6-ohm speakers? Can anyone recommend one?

What about using a 2 channel amp for the mains and using the receiver to drive the surrounds ? Given the same budget for the amp ($500) would this give me substantially better performance out of the mains for stereo listening?

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I started looking through the reviews section but there are hundreds of amps on there.