AV receiver for 4 ohm speakers?

I will say this, although I've had people tell me I was ABSOLUTELY NUTS, that it wasn't possible.

Back around '93 or '94 I ran into some money problems and needed to sell a couple amps. In the meantime, till the money problems were straightened out I used an Onkyo 2 ch. receiver to run my Apogee Stages. Never shutdown, no problems whatsoever.

I don't know about what the multichannel recievers will do today, but I'd venture a guess that they may handle some of the easier 4 ohm loads.

I have a 3-yr old Yamaha RX-V785 receiver (about $1k back then) that has a switch for 4 and 8ohm speakers. I assume that many newer ones, from different brands, have such switch.

The switches are actually small resistors that you can move in and out of the electrical path. They may change the way your speakers sound - don't use them. It is a cheesy way to get your 4 ohm speakers look 8 ohm to your amp.

My old H-K 795i receiver can handle 4 ohm loads no problem. I am not sure about most of the new A/V receivers. Amplifier design has not moved forward much and still takes a large amount of space in the receiver. If a setereo and a 5.1 receiver are the same size and wieght - they made shortcuts somewhere - period. Look at the transformers and heatsinks.

Also, look at how they report their power ratings. On some 5 channel receivers they report the power from 2 channels only as their rating and only at one frequency. They are trying to deceive us.

Dave

Thanks for all the suggestions!

As it happens, I just tripped across a really great deal on a used Lexicon MC-1 w/DD & DTS and a Rotel 985 MkII, so I nixed the whole receiver concept - I can live without 6.1 until I get around to having the MC-1 upgraded.

Whoops . . . I mean Lexicon DC-1, of course . . . . ;-0)