bookshelf's to match older rotel 30watt

Thanks a lot I have a lot to dig through!!!! So, from what I know about car stereo's, if you have a 4 ohm speaker and drive it with an 8 ohm amp, you will get louder output but its tougher on the amp as in extra heat and clippling, my rotel probably doesnt have a protection mode or anything, so like you said just dont crank it. Which if im correct I should get louder volume without cranking the amp anyway in comparison to an 8ohm speaker....right?! Is clipping the amp going to cause permanent damage or shorten the life of the unit--other then of course sounding terrible??!!!!

Glowplug,

The damage that clipping will do is not so much to the amp, but to your speaker's tweeter. Many tweeters have been "fried" because someone trying to crank-up a lower powered amp and drove it into clipping. What's happening is, your amp can put out more power, but unfortunately that extra power comes with a high levels of distortion. And it's this distortion that kills tweeters.

The thing to remember is that unless you're cranking the amp up loud (pass the 12 o'clock position on the volume control) and/or have your tone controls on the amp turned way past their flat position (which is usually at the 12 o'clock position) then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

One thing you might want to check out is how well your Rotel can handle a 4 ohm load. Probably the best way to do that is check it's manual (if you still got it) or send an email to Rotel asking them about your amp. Some amps can handle 4 ohms loads very well, other amps not so well.

yeah no manual and cant download without paying so screw em! i know I will be turning my amp past halfway up, not all the way but its a 30 watt so.......really efficient is important!!!!!!!