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Need advice about ohms !

J

Johnny_Boy83

New Member
Just picked up a sansui g4700 which is 8ohms currently my speakers are definitive model BP2004 which apparent are 4ohms (they both have subs built in that are seperately powered and plugged into the wall). Do you think I can run the speakers with the sansui?

Side info
My current receiver is a pioneer vsx820.. runs them fine.
 
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Good info. right here. Looks like you shouldn't run anything but 8 ohm speakers with it. If you do it will run hot to it's eventual demise.

Welcome to AK BTW!


Sansui G 4700

Hello to all Sansuiers, I recently bought a Yamaha CR 700 on Ebay and what showed up was a Sansui G4700, not at all what I was expecting. I had been advised that Yamaha was what I wanted in a receiver or amp for the type of music I liked (classical). I hooked up the Sansui, and it was love...
audiokarma.org
 
Johnny_Boy83 said:
So basically dont crank it if you are using 4ohm speakers and dont run it for days
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Well... it might run fine forever. But it might also fall within a few minutes. If the spec for your Sansui is indeed 8ohms minimum, I would not be running them at all.
 
loudnoises said:
Well... it might run fine forever. But it might also fall within a few minutes. If the spec for your Sansui is indeed 8ohms minimum, I would not be running them at all.
Click to expand...
I may run it with my elac debut 2.0 b6.2 speakers instead. Btw they are criminally underrated
 
Does that Sansui have a speaker select switch with an A+B option? That could pair two 8 ohm speakers in parallel for a 4 ohm load, so the amp should handle it. If not, see all the above.
 
Sansui built good stuff, but if they tell you 8 ohms and above then I would follow their advice. Early SS equipment couldn't tolerate being used incorrectly. I have seen to many in our shop from the 60's that couldn't handle being stressed. Did matter if the units were built in the USA or over seas. Early Scott, Fisher, Sherwood, and even Marantz could not tolerate being over taxed with dyer consequences resulting. I use to push my MC 2100's pretty hard and they never gave me any issues. Wish I could say the same for the Crowns and other SS amps I used at home and professionally in the later 60's and 70's. After my AR amp blew up the third time while still under warranty I turned it back in and bought a Mcintosh MC 2505, which I still have, meets specs, and has never been in for repairs. 54 years old. Rated at 50 watts per channel and puts out a bit above 75 while meeting Mac specs.
 
tom3 said:
Does that Sansui have a speaker select switch with an A+B option? That could pair two 8 ohm speakers in parallel for a 4 ohm load, so the amp should handle it. If not, see all the above.
Click to expand...

Johnny_Boy83 said:
Yup A or B or A+B
So the amp should handle 1 x 4 ohm speakers
Click to expand...

This is why it's important to find the actual specs. Both of these assumptions are correct in 95% of units from this era, but they are both wrong in regards to this unit.

opnly bafld said:
Sansui G-4700
A or B - 8 ohms or more
A and B - 16 ohms or more
Click to expand...
^^^
Just because it offers the ability to use 2 sets, or even 3 sets of speakers, this doesn't tell you ANYTHING about the actual amp inside. It only tells you they added a switch and some extra jacks.
 
Without seeing a readout, we have no idea. It might be okay, it might be bad. A powered woofer leads me to think it would be OK.
 
Technically the receiver should not be used to power the those speakers at all, just going off of nominal impedance. If you do, it can cause more heat build up, and possible shutdown or damage. I ran into the same issue trying to power a set of "6 ohm" speakers on an amplifier that claimed it could run 4 Ohm speakers. When pushing them at louder volumes, the heat built up and it opened the speaker relay, cutting the sound. Put my 8 ohm speakers back on and haven't had any problems since, at any volume level. Another thing that makes speakers confusing is the manufacturer picks what impedance they are rated at. Some "6 Ohm" speakers are relatively easy to drive with high efficiency (90Db) + and a relatively steady impedance that doesn't dip below 5 Ohms, and most amplifiers would have no problem with them. Some others like my electrostats are rated at 6 Ohms, and are inefficient at only 86Db efficiency, but they would kill most amplifiers as they also have an impedance dip that hits only 1.1 Ohms. Most amps cannot safely drive them. Sorry if I got a little too deep into it or if it is confusing. Unfortunately speaker and amplifier specs are deep, convoluted, and confusing at first. It took me a while to figure it all out. I just don't like giving blanket statements, "like any amp that claims it can drive x Ohm speakers, can drive any x Ohm speakers". Unfortunately that advice does show up from time to time.
 
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