Hi, I know this is mainly a professional area, but that's the reason I chose to ask this question here.I own a old Pioneer Dolby Prologic receiver it has a A+B setting for running two sets of speakers off the front left and right.It says you can only run 8ohm speakers when using this setting. So my question is am I correct in assuming that actually in the receiver it's paralleling the speakers to one amp and the amp is running at 4ohms? If it is,can I run 4ohm speakers off just the A setting by itself. What I'm trying to do is use the receiver as a sub amp for some car subs I own that I was going to place in a closet in my theater room. The current sub I own is not very good and it doesn't look like I'll be getting a new one soon so I figured I might try this idea out. Do you see any problem with doing this,this way. Thanks I appreciate any help you can give me.POE

Are you joking? I hope that answers your question ......

If its a Standard Pioneer receiver, more than likely, when "A+B" is engaged, the receiver is either running in series OR there is a 4 Ohm resistor in there to maintain impedence. Is there a switch on the back of the receiver for 4 or 8 ohm operation?

If its an Elite series receiver, the amp MIGHT be good enough to do what you ask, but would never recommend or do this. A receiver just does not have the current to run a high power sub.

What receiver and exactly what sub are you trying to run? If its some flea market special and you really dont care about sound quality and longevity, you could experiment a bit.

Otherwise a Properly build cabinet, and a dedicated power amp with crossover is the way to go.

if necessary, use a passive crossover and run on A only but watch vol. this could be too much for your receiver. agree, this is not best solution but it might work as a stopgap measure. Be careful!

Impaqt,
I've never seen a Pioneer with series resistors. I've also not seen one series the A and B. A few older Kenwoods; a Sansui here and there.

He's OK with 4 ohms on the A channel.

Standard terms apply. Don't turn it past 12 or 1 o'clock; if you hear distortion, back it off, etc.
=Tom
Servicing Pioneer since 1975...

digitlife,

Are all your posts smarta$$, or do you actually know something. You aren't very helpful, so you must be here to secretly learn from the rest of the pro's here. If you don't want to help, then just don't say anything...

Mark

Just make sure it's 4 ohm and not 2 ohm! If you are using a sub pre-out from the main receiver into this one that will help with the crossover part. Keep the volume reasonable and it will work out. I've seen MUCH worse work for a long time when it should have blown the first hour.

Thanks for the replies. The subs I have are some cheap Legacy 10's they are 4ohm voice coils. I know how to build cabinets and what volume they require. I just wasn't really for sure about the robustness of a home amp they like to hide the actual figures as far as their capabilities in the amp department. There is no 4-8ohm switch I hunted for that already. I do plan on using the sub preout from my panasonic receiver to feed this it's signal,nice thing is the panasonic has a selectable croseover setting. I was pretty sure that I couldn't pound it, I just want a little more than my current KLH 8" is putting out. I basically wanted to find out if I was going to chew up the Pioneer receiver quickly so I sought you guys to find out. You guys answered the question quite well,thanks. I am curious though, digilife why are you so against doing this,seriouslly what is your reasoning why this cannot be done,I look forward to your answers. Again thanks guys.POE P.S. Almost forgot the receiver is a Pioneer VSX-305 ,Tom you are right there is no actuall A+B setting on this receiver, but I have use it with 2 sets speakers,both on, with no ill effect(I got the A+B setting confused with a old Sony I use to own,opp's) Thanks again.POE