Steve, a question regarding speaker taps/vintage tube amps

Steve, I remember you saying something a while back about using 8 ohm speakers but not necessarily connecting the 8 ohm tap on the back of your vintage tube amp? I think you said that it may sound better on 4 ohm or something? I can't remember what this was all about. Do you remember this particular discussion?

 

I thought it was the other way around - that speakers which the manufacturer claimed to have a lowish impedance would still sound better through the 8 ohm taps. If I had amps with different taps, I'd just try both and use the ones I liked the most.

 

So you guys are recommending that I try the 4 ohm and the 16 ohm and use whichever one sounds the best? I will try it for sure. Does anyone know why this works or what the theory is behind it? Thanks for the responses Geoff and Steve.

 

Something to think about...

Using a lower output tap will result in a lower output impedance. The lower the output impedance of the amp, the less variation you'll hear in frequency response as the loudspeaker load varies. In other words, you'll get a flatter response with a lower output impedance.

Then again, your ears may or may not find that ideal.

I've always just used the tap that corresponded to the nominal impedance of the loudspeaker. Where you run into trouble is with severe impedance dips. Then it's best to have an amplifier with an output transformer that can provide plenty of current.