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In Reply to: RE: Efficiency & Resistance posted by saki70 on February 14, 2015 at 14:39:02
There is the loudspeaker driver electro acoustic efficiency which is governed by a number of internal parameters however, impedance isn’t one of them. One can have a speaker with the same efficiency with a 4 ohm, 8 ohm or 16 ohm coil (although this would be rare given market needs).
The difference is what gage wire is used, as long as the total volume of copper in the gap and the magnetic field is the same, then the efficiency stays constant. A smaller gage wire allows turns, more L or length in the BL term but a longer L and smaller diameter means the Rdc term is larger.
Part B is that transistor amplifiers generally deliver more power into a lower impedance load while tube amps are often happier driving a higher impedance.
In terms of headroom, usually an amplifier reaches Voltage clipping first or Current limiting first, the most headroom / largest peak power is had with a load where both are reached at essentially the same time.
Best,
Tom
Follow Ups:
"In terms of headroom, usually an amplifier reaches Voltage clipping first or Current limiting first, the most headroom / largest peak power is had with a load where both are reached at essentially the same time."
I hadn't thought it through to that point, but that makes total sense.
Where sound quality is the overriding concern and headroom is not an issue, in your experience is there any advantage from a distortion perception standpoint to a solid state amplifier driving a fairly high impedance load rather than a headroom-optimized load?
My guess is "it depends...", but I'd be particularly interested in your experience and opinion.
Thanks!
Duke
Me being a dealer makes you leery?? It gets worse... I'm a manufacturer too.
A SS amplifier has distortion that declines as the impedance goes up.
Klipsch did an Otala Distortion test using a Heresy as a load, the distortion dropped like a rock in the midrange as the impedance climbed up to 70Ω.
Interesting! That has been my perception with my 16 ohm Spendor BC-1's. Solid state amps seem to sound their best on it.
Dave
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