4 Ohm Speakers \ 8 Ohm Amps

[dmhaney]

World;

I own a pair of Vienna Acoustics Beethoven's and a Maestro center channel. I have been using a Carver 806x amp to power all of the speakers (the sides and rears are 4 Waltz's). I have just purchased a pair of Carver Silver 9T's to power the Beethoven’s and I was going to bridge two of the channels on the 806x to accommodate the Maestro center.
I was on the phone with Rita from the Carver Service Center talking about the bridging method, but when I told her I had 4-Ohm speakers she IMMEDIATELY said, "Carver is not responsible for damage to the speakers or the amps." Rita said that they do not recommend driving 4-Ohm speakers with the 806x or the Silver 9T's. I was also told that bridging is not recommended for 4-Ohm speakers. Believe me, I am a little lost because the science of this does not make that much sense, but that is why I am writing this email to solicit ideas and opinions and possibly a solution to my dilemma.

DMH

[markw]

Pro: It increases the power.

Con: It increases the noise
Con: It increases the distortion
Con: It "sees" the impedance of the speaker as 1/2 of what it is.

Let's look at this last one carefully. If you have an 8 ohm speaker and use it with a bridged amp, it will see it as a 4 ohm speaker. Ergo, it will have to work harder in order to drive it and, in the process, increase the noise and distortion.

Now, for your homework, imagine this same scenario with a 4 ohm speaker...

As far as driving htem in a non-bridged scenario, well, maybe they know something we don't? In the (abridged) words of the immortal Dirty Harry, "Are ya feeling lucky today?"

[SpankingVanillaice]

Well I can say on one of my receivers that is 8 ohms rated can hook up a pair of 4 ohms speakers but I dont hook up more than one pair since the amp might over heat.