2.7 ohm speakers with 6 ohm amplifier...can I make it work?

[drebo]

So I've got an old 5.1 DVD player that has 2.7 ohm speakers and I'd like to use the speakers from it on my recently replaced Onkyo home theater reciever. The Onkyo expects 6 ohm speakers.

Can I wire some resistors inline or something to make it work?

Not really sure.

 

[Howard]

You can do the resistor thing, but the bass will get bloated.

If your receiver has decent overcurrent protection, it should be OK as is if you keep the volume fairly low.

 

[master_shake_]

take the negative and positive from 2 speakers and wire them together.

then take the positive and negative that are left over and shove them in a speaker output on the receiver.

you have made a 6 ohm speaker.

pat yourself on the back.

 

[razel]

Feel free to connect your 2.7 ohm as-is. When your receiver is playing loud, just watch it's temperature and you'll be fine.

The 2.7 ohm rating on your speaker is a nominal rating. With all speakers it is not the nominal ohm rating as a flat line through all frequencies. It is a curve that can even dip as low as 1 ohm. You're lucky your receiver can take 6 ohms. Many receivers are 8 ohms and claim 4 ohms. To get 4 ohms and UL rating they usually have switch that will drop output wattage at 4 ohms in half. It's often best to just leave it at 8 ohms and turn the volume down 3db (half the power). With that you will still have headroom wattage for peaks.

So just connect it and when things get loud, check your receiver every once in a while.

 

[LoveMachine]

The 2.7ers are likely little 2 to 3 inch drivers (even if the box is larger) that can only handle a few watts anyway. The drivers will likely blow before the amp over heats. It'll work, but likely sound like $#!t. Most HTiB systems only send about 250Hz and above to the satellite speakers (including the fronts), so there is very little midbass coming from them. The sub then handles everything below that (which is way most of them sound rather boomy and directional). Set the crossover on your Onkyo somewhere in that range. It won't sound great, but it should work. This is all assuming these things are from your typical Home Theater in a Box type system.

 

[melloyellow]

Impedance matching volume controls can multiply the impedance 2x or 4x. See monoprice for those.

Might want to just buy a new set of stereo speakers instead of putting more money towards those old speakers though.