[Richard Crowley]

"Kalman Rubinson" wrote ...
vlad wrote:
I have a surround 5.1 setup consisting of 4ohm speakers. Now I need to
upgrade to 7.1. So I am on the market for new 7.1 AV receiver with
full alphabet soup of sound protocols.
I pretty much narrowed on Denon, Marantz and Integra brands.


In relations with this I have two questions:

1. Looking in specs of new receivers I noticed that they quote their
power ratings for 8ohms without mentioning 4ohms without mention if I
can plug in 4ohms speakers. So is it safe to assume that modern AV
solid state receiver can handle 4ohm?

Mebbe but, in general, there will be mention of this in the user's
manuals. I would advise you to buy a receiver that is supposed to be
able to handle 4ohm speakers. Many do.

2. I need to buy new pair of surrounds. Should they be too 4ohms. Can
I mix 4ohms and 8 ohms?

They need not be 4 ohms.

Although impedance *MAY* be part of the "sensitivity" factor
and that may be important if you don't have independent balance
control of each channel.

So you really "need" 7.1? I'm feeling guilty now with my 2.0 :-)
I'll have to think about 2.1 someday.