There are two standards in place for speaker and amplifier design, and if you use an amplifier with a speaker of the other standard, or vice versa, you very likely will have an incompatability. This is not a matter of taste, nor is it a matter of poor speaker limiting a good amp (which clearly happens as well but is not my point).
The two standards are Voltage and Power. Under the the Voltage standard, the ideal amp makes the same *voltage* into any load. An amp that makes 29V RMS into an 8 ohm load makes 100 watts and can then make 29V RMS into 4 ohms is now doing 200 watts. This is the traditional transistor amplifier. Speakers designed for this behavior may have a varying impedance curve but the result will be flat frequency response when used with a Voltage Standard amp.
Under the Power standard, the ideal amp makes constant power with respect to load. The typical example is a tube amplifier that might be 220 watts into 4,8 and 16 ohms. Speakers designed under this standard expect constant power regardless of their impedance. A good example is the Coincident Technologies speaker. Another is the Sound Lab (most planers are Power standard as their impedance as nothing to do with box resonance).
Some correlations so this is easier to recognize: in the Objectivist/Subjectivist debate, Objectivists are all on the Voltage standard, and most Subjectivists are not. Transistors/Tubes I already mentioned.
An example of a mismatch: a tube amp on a B&W 802. The 802 is designed to see the amp double power into the woofer load; tube amps do not do this and so the speaker tends to be lean with tube amps.
Another example: transistor amp with Sound Labs. ESLs have decreasing impedance with frequency and the Sound Lab is about 1.5 ohms or so @ 20KHz. It is usually 16-30 ohms in the bass, depending on the version. A transistor amp will make far too much power in the highs and not nearly enough in the bass (the difference in power varying by at least 10-1!), resulting in lackluster bass with very bright highs. Usually people who have this combination compensate by putting the speaker too close to the rear wall to enhance the bass, but the results are questionable.
So you have to determine which standard your amps and speakers are built to. After that then you can exercise 'taste'.
The two standards are Voltage and Power. Under the the Voltage standard, the ideal amp makes the same *voltage* into any load. An amp that makes 29V RMS into an 8 ohm load makes 100 watts and can then make 29V RMS into 4 ohms is now doing 200 watts. This is the traditional transistor amplifier. Speakers designed for this behavior may have a varying impedance curve but the result will be flat frequency response when used with a Voltage Standard amp.
Under the Power standard, the ideal amp makes constant power with respect to load. The typical example is a tube amplifier that might be 220 watts into 4,8 and 16 ohms. Speakers designed under this standard expect constant power regardless of their impedance. A good example is the Coincident Technologies speaker. Another is the Sound Lab (most planers are Power standard as their impedance as nothing to do with box resonance).
Some correlations so this is easier to recognize: in the Objectivist/Subjectivist debate, Objectivists are all on the Voltage standard, and most Subjectivists are not. Transistors/Tubes I already mentioned.
An example of a mismatch: a tube amp on a B&W 802. The 802 is designed to see the amp double power into the woofer load; tube amps do not do this and so the speaker tends to be lean with tube amps.
Another example: transistor amp with Sound Labs. ESLs have decreasing impedance with frequency and the Sound Lab is about 1.5 ohms or so @ 20KHz. It is usually 16-30 ohms in the bass, depending on the version. A transistor amp will make far too much power in the highs and not nearly enough in the bass (the difference in power varying by at least 10-1!), resulting in lackluster bass with very bright highs. Usually people who have this combination compensate by putting the speaker too close to the rear wall to enhance the bass, but the results are questionable.
So you have to determine which standard your amps and speakers are built to. After that then you can exercise 'taste'.