Hi. My mains are 1970 Bang & Olufsen ht-5000's (4 2" tweeters, 2 5" mids, 1 12" woofer), and my rears are M&K's. Both the mains and the rears are 4 ohms. The receiver is set to 4 ohms.

Here's my question. I have 2 Bang & Olufson 6 ohm cx-50's that I am using as the front center. Each speaker is going into one banana plug which is plugged right into the front center speaker terminal. In my mind, this makes the speakers wired in parallel--and thus makes them 3 ohms. This is correct right? And this way to to wire them, as opposed to going out of the one speaker into the other, is ok as well correct?

Finally, will a three ohm center make the receiver angry since it is set to 4 ohms?

Thanks,

Loomis

bump - anyone???

To be wired in parallel, you'd need to take both rights and go to the right for the center out, and then the two lefts to the left on the center out. If that's what you've done then yes, that would make it parallel and 3 ohms. Also, you would definitely do it this way vice putting them in series. If you don't have the wire available, you could also go Right out, to right of 1st spkr then jumper to right of 2nd spkr and then same with the lefts; but I would recommend bringing both back to the receiver.

As far as making the receiver unhappy, not sure. Anybody who's actually tried this, or something similar, know?

The rating of speaker impedance is a nominal or average value (I'm not sure exactly how its calculated) and even 8 ohm speakers can dip pretty low in impedance at certain frequencies. If you go to some speaker design web sites (JasonA's links in the speaker forum are great), you'll see some designs that are a nominal 8 ohm, but dip near 2 ohm near the bottom. My concern would be that your 6 ohm speakers may have a similar dip and once you run them in parallel, that 2 ohm dip could become a 1 ohm dip, meaning that the current through the amplifier would be huge. I can't comment on specifics with the 1050's internal amp, but that's a pretty tall order. To be conservative, I don't know if its a good idea. But, if you sent an e-mail to tech support, they might be able to tell you if the thermal protection circuitry would save the amp if it was indeed too much of a load. If the protection circuitry would keep the amp in the safe zone, then you might want to give it a try. I tend to err on the safe side, however. Definitely put in a call or e-mail if you want to be safe.

S.

Ok great thanks guys. I emailed the outlaw people and am awaiting a reply.

Loomis