Quote Originally Posted by jeskibuff
I don't think you're going to be happy with the results. As was said previously, the resistor is going to suck up about half the power that would normally go to the speaker. This will solve the dilemma with the Yamaha because it would now perceive that it's driving an 8-ohm speaker, so the protection circuitry should no longer trip.

But the problem is in the volume, isn't it? You wanted to play your speakers louder, and when you cranked up the volume, the Yamaha shut down. With the resistor in place, the volume (at the same knob position, say 10 o'clock) should be less than it was before because the resistor's consuming half the power. So now, you may have to crank the volume knob up ALL the way (or close to it) to get to the same volume you were playing prior to the protection circuitry kicking in. So, you haven't gained ANYTHING, except that you're consuming more electricity at WHATEVER volume you're listening to and the receiver shouldn't go into standby mode anymore.

What you need is...
  • either get used to listening at lower volumes or
  • buy a more powerful amp/receiver or
  • get new, more efficient speakers

On that list of options, I would shoot for the more powerful amp!
Here's my logic.
If the amplifier sees 8 ohm impedance it will output 100W/channel, which is as per specification. Now he is running something that is outside the specification, so boosting the impedance should help. Besides, let say by adding the resistor the amplifier is loosing half of the power (= become 100W/c) the volume will only reduce by 3 dB which is easily tackled by volume control.