2. amps-preamps
  3. 150690-2029

What Class D amps will drive a 2 ohm load

Just asking.

I see specs into 4 ohms but nothing into difficult speaker loads (like Thiel CS5's).

Thanks for listening, 

Dsper


dsper
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
It's also interesting that Stereophile didn't bother reporting specified power rating at 2ohms
Yes this is always and indication, that it's not happy doing those loads, it may handle them and make some noise into them, but then so can the NAD3020 integrated, can they get the best from the OP's CS5's? I doubt it very much. 

Cheers George
thosb's avatar
thosb
204 posts
 
Yes, of course, Tom not Jim, how embarrassing, sorry.  And I corrected someone else on this a month or so ago.  Palm to forehead. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,856 posts
 
It's also interesting that Stereophile didn't bother reporting specified power rating at 2ohms, but did mention THD rises into 2ohms at higher frequencies.
This is true of all amplifiers; if high fidelity reproduction is your goal, lower impedances should be avoided so as to reduce distortion from the amplifier. The distortion generated by driving a lower impedance is mostly higher orders and is audible as brightness and harshness. You really don't want to make any amplifier work hard to drive a 'difficult' load. The result can be seen in measurements of any amplifier.
golfnutz
231 posts
 

Can I make the same comment that higher impedance is receptive to noise, in the same context that lower impedance adds distortion.

Seems like most of the Class-D amps Stereophile measured included power ratings at 2ohms. It just thought it was weird they didn't include those measurements for the M700 amps.

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,856 posts
 
Can I make the same comment that higher impedance is receptive to noise, in the same context that lower impedance adds distortion.
Probably not. The impedance of a 16 ohm loudspeaker will not affect noise floor at all. But many 16 ohm loudspeakers are also fairly efficient, and if there is noise efficiency means that you will hear it.
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