Balancing speaker volumes with Sansui 881

Hello,

I am trying to run a pair of 90's era Bose 301 speakers and 70's Pioneer CS-63DX speakers simultaneously on my Sansui 881 receiver. At any given volume setting the Bose speakers are dramatically quieter than the Pioneer speakers. Both speakers are 8 Ohms. Is there anything that I can do to the balance the output level between the two sets of speakers? This probably has something to do with differing power requirements of the speakers drivers???

Thanks so much.

The imbalance is caused by the different efficiencies of each speaker type. Some speaker boxes have a volume control for each set of speakers. This would solve your problem.

Another cruder but cheaper option is to put a few ohms of resistance in series with one lead of the louder speakers to see if this equalizes them. You might need to experiment with values. An L-pad is the commercial version of this idea. Hard core audiophiles will sniff with disdain but it works.

To get truly independent control of each set, split the preamp out and run it both into the 881's power amp and into a second amp. Connect a set of speakers to each amp and you're done.