I agree that running the speakers on the "small" setting may help things out, but in order to do so, you would pretty much HAVE to have a powered sub. Some people might not have a sub to start off with and may not be able to afford a decent one after making what many might consider to be a considerable investment in the receiver alone.
Besides that, if you had 4 ohm speakers or speakers with wavering impedances across the band, you would still be stuck with the potential for a LOT less power delivery than if you had 8 ohm models with some specific receivers. As such, building a system with a receiver REALLY requires one to look at the entire package as a whole and not just throw "good", "brand name" or "recommended" components together.
While you may think i'm exagerating about the loss of power at lower impedances, take a look at these measurements ( not manufacturers spec's but actual measurements ):
Onkyo TX-DS696: 131 watts @ 8 ohms / 63 watts @ 4 ohms
Technics SA-DX1050: 126 @ 8 / 42 @ 4
Harman Kardon AVR 110: 79 @ 8 / shutdown @ 4
Denon AVR-1801: 97 @ 8 / shutdown @ 4
Pioneer VSX-D510: 138 @ 8 / shutdown @ 4
JVC RX-6010BVK: 100 @ 8 / shutdown @ 6 & 4 ohms !!!
Some Sony ( !!! ) and Yamaha models seemed to hold up the best. Quite honestly, i've always thought of Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha making the best "mass market" receivers. Obviously, not every product in a manufacturer's line will be built to the same level, so don't take these as "blanket endorsements" or "blanket castrations" of these specific brands.
Sony STR-DE675: 131 @ 8 / 108 @ 4
Yamaha RX-V620: 87 @ 8 / 98 @ 4
As such, one can see that one can buy what most would consider a "powerful" so-called "120 watt" ( Onkyo, Technics, Pioneer, etc.. )receiver and have it "pounded" by an 80 - 85 watt ( Yamaha in this case ) receiver if running at lower impedances.
Not only would the lack of power at low impedances result in lower sustainable spl levels, it could result in clipping, tweeter damage and an overall lack of "power on demand" dynamics when called upon to deliver. This lack of "oomph" could take place anywhere in the audio pass-band at low impedances, not just in the low frequency ranges.
This is NOT to say that a more "powerful" unit will always sound better, but it does have the potential to do so since it can more easily deliver the power to the speakers in a more linear fashion with less potential for distortion or dynamic compression & smearing.
As i've mentioned before, specs CAN be useful if you know how to interpret them and what they mean. Sean
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