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RE: Output Impedance Question???

Posted by TimeConstant on February 28, 2014 at 03:57:09

In Reply to: Output Impedance Question??? posted by ecline6 on February 27, 2014 at 19:13:21:

The taps are there to transform the speaker impedance towards the output tubes.

The best tap to use really depends on many factors, one of them is your personal preference.

Technically an 8 Ohm speaker system is best connected to the 8 Ohm tap, but if the speakers exhibit large impedance dips
it will probably sound and perform better on a 4 Ohm tap.

Experiment and use the one that you prefer.

It is quite typical that a 4 Ohm speaker will not sound better on an 8 Ohm tap, but this is not always the case.

An 8 Ohm speaker on a 4 Ohm tap will increase the impedance that the output tubes are driving.

This can translate sonically into a more pleasing to the ear experience but a side effect is less output power.

Output tubes are by design (hopefully so) made to drive a specific impedance load value.

This is a static calculation determined by many simultaneous parameters.

If an output tube stage is designed to drive a 2.5K Primary and one connects a 4 Ohm speaker to an 8 Ohm Tap

cutting the reflected impedance by half towards the power tubes(s) means
that the tube now sees 1.25K Ohms.

Whether this makes better sound or not may really depend on your ears.

Mathematically it is not the correct solution.

But music is a dynamic thing and when things are in motion and not operating at fixed values throughout a given range

pleasing results may not always be intuitively or mathematically correct.

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