4 ohm speaker to 8/6 ohm amplifier?

[m500]

Anything bad would happen when I hook up my 4 ohm speaker to a Amplifier output of 8 & 6 ohms?

[Mark111867]

That depends. If your amp is rated for 8 or 6 ohm speakers, a 4 ohm load will make your amp work that much harder. It also depends on how efficient your speakers are. If they are rated at let's say, 89db, your amp wouldn't have to work as hard as opposed to speakers that are rated at 85db. My 2 channel Yamaha receiver is supposed to be able to handle a 4 ohm load. How well it would do it, I can't say, and to be honest, I'd be pretty cautious about hooking up, for example, a pair of Magnepan MMG's to it which are rated at 4 ohms with an efficiency of 86db. I hope that this helps. Maybe some other folks on this board that have more experience than I do with amps will chime in. Good luck!

[topspeed]

Depends. Is that 4 ohm nominal or 4 ohm minimum? If it's the latter, most any competent amp will be able to handle it and you should be fine. Just don't blasting it a 110dB all day long. If it's the former, you'd best find out with the minimum is. If the speaker has dips into <2 ohms, you'd best err on the side of caution and either play at moderate levels or get a better amp. The worst that can happen is that your amp will overheat and the protection circuitry will kick in and shut it down. No, wait...scratch that. The absolute worst thing that could happen is your amp will overheat, the protection circuitry could not kick in and you'll fry your amp and possibly take your speaker with it. That would be the worst.

Hope this helps.