Amp/Preamp Asylum Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here. |
|
In Reply to: RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. posted by morricab on June 18, 2012 at 14:47:53:
This may be going back a stretch but in one of the first reviews on any of our amplifiers the reviewer used a set of Apogee Full Ranges, which were also one ohm. We used a set of our Z-Music autoformers between the speaker and our (early) set of MA-1s and the result worked really well! IOW they were easy to drive other than their impedance.
However I should point something out. While an amplifier *may* be able to drive a difficult load, that is not the same as saying it is sounding its best when doing so- there is a reason why a difficult load is considered difficult- its harder for the amp to drive. While this logic is not rocket science by any means, it is a simple truth that lower impedances do not benefit high end audio reproduction at all, nor do difficult phase angles in the load.
With respect to impedance, its a simple fact that you will get more power, more bandwidth and lower distortion if a tube amp with an output transformer is driving a higher impedance (IOW it will sound better). What most people don't realize is that while they will not make more power, otherwise this is also true of any transistor amp. You can see it in their specs. Four ohms came in as a way to get amps to make more power since efficiency had taken a back seat to the cost of the driver itself. This is a historical situation; these days many audiophile accept four ohms and don't think much about it but there was a time when it was unusual and for good reason.
IOW four ohms has no benefit to reproduction if sound quality is your goal. If on the other hand sound pressure is your goal then there is a slight advantage if you have a transistor amp that can manage it. I've not gone into speaker cables but they are critical on four ohms where they are far less so on eight or sixteen.
These things that I have mentioned here are not only audible but also measurable. FWIW I don't agree that the Lamm you mentioned is serious competition although I am sure its a very competent amplifier. Someday maybe we should have shoot-out :)
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - Ralph 08:15:32 06/19/12 (38)
- RE: agreed on all counts! Thanks for putting this up. - morricab 05:37:54 06/26/12 (37)
- yes and no. - Ralph 10:16:26 06/26/12 (36)
- RE: yes and no. - Sunya 07:00:29 06/29/12 (28)
- RE: yes and no. - villastrangiato 08:09:50 06/29/12 (27)
- RE: yes and no. - Sunya 09:29:23 06/29/12 (26)
- FWIW, the old tubes vs transistors debate.... - Ralph 09:43:16 06/29/12 (25)
- RE: FWIW, the old tubes vs transistors debate.... - villastrangiato 20:14:32 06/29/12 (24)
- I think there are a few. - Ralph 09:37:51 07/02/12 (18)
- RE: I think there are a few. - villastrangiato 06:05:20 07/03/12 (17)
- RE: I think there are a few. - Ralph 10:00:07 07/03/12 (16)
- RE: I think there are a few. - villastrangiato 20:31:27 07/03/12 (15)
- harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Ralph 11:13:05 07/04/12 (14)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:41:28 07/04/12 (13)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Ralph 09:29:27 07/05/12 (3)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:57:03 07/05/12 (2)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - PaulF70 07:28:10 06/17/16 (0)
- The human ear is the most important thing in audio - Ralph 07:48:20 07/07/12 (0)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 01:13:20 07/05/12 (8)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 04:42:49 07/05/12 (7)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 14:21:54 07/05/12 (5)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - villastrangiato 19:46:44 07/05/12 (4)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 00:36:34 07/06/12 (3)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - Sunya 07:02:50 07/06/12 (2)
- Correction - morricab 15:14:17 07/06/12 (0)
- RE: harmonic distortion does not get 'buried in the mix'. - morricab 15:10:10 07/06/12 (0)
- If you are not willing to read the studies and work you will remain ignorant - Ralph 09:42:57 07/05/12 (0)
- Spectral nt - Sunya 03:39:31 07/01/12 (4)
- RE: Spectral nt - villastrangiato 07:11:53 07/01/12 (3)
- RE: Spectral et al... - Ralph 09:33:53 07/02/12 (0)
- RE: Spectral nt - morricab 09:39:07 07/01/12 (0)
- RE: Spectral nt - rick_m 09:19:53 07/01/12 (0)
- RE: yes and no. - morricab 08:07:36 06/27/12 (6)
- RE: yes and no. - Ralph 09:25:00 06/27/12 (5)
- RE: yes and no. - villastrangiato 08:13:24 06/28/12 (4)
- The goal is the same. - Ralph 12:31:01 06/28/12 (3)
- RE: The goal is the same. - rick_m 09:36:22 06/29/12 (0)
- RE: The goal is the same. - morricab 00:18:36 06/29/12 (1)
- RE: Yes, I agree. nt - Ralph 09:32:46 06/29/12 (0)