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Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

load impedance is a problem for any amp if you want the best reproduction

In the case of all amplifiers, tube or transistor, the 4 ohm distortion spec will always be higher than that of the 8 or 16 ohm spec.

IOW, if you are really serious about getting the best out of your amplifier dollar, it will be best served by a speaker that is 8 ohms or more. Four ohms helps you get more power if your amp can double power into 4 ohms but that is not an argument for quality, its an argument for quantity and a poor one (3db) at best.

Of course, many people say something like ' I have four ohm speakers and they sound great', and they probably do, but if you could change them to 8 ohms without changing anything else, they would sound even better. Its not a good idea to make any amplifier work hard; the result will be harsher sound with less detail due to increased distortion.

FWIW, our M-60 amplifier makes 60 watts into 8 ohms. It does not do so well into 4 (although we have 3 larger amps that do) but if you just make sure that the speaker is 8 ohms in the bass the amp can do quite well. IOW its not really that hard to find speakers that work with it; its our most popular amp and we are still here after 39 years...


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