Speakers are generally matched to amps/receivers by their impedance, most common impedance for speakers is 8 Ohms but other commonly found impedance values are 4 & 16 Ohms.
Are you sure the speaker you have is compatible with the receiver? If the speaker impedance is too low, it can cause the amp to shut down.
Also note that if you connect several speakers in parallel to your amp output the impedance goes down. For instance, 2 8 Ohm speakers connected in parallel will result in an impedance of 4 Ohms.