4 ohm tap vs 8 ohm tap

Alraul,

I do end my post with my qualifications - and I get a lot
of flak for doing so.

The qualifications work as a double-edged sword.

The fact that I put "Physicist" after my name says that I
do have a special expertise in Physics. It also says that
I have absolutely no special qualifications in anything else.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

Morbius, I think you will find this amusing
I have spoke to a good work friend who is an electrical engineer. He has been in this profession for over 25 years.
I was telling him about the discussion on the CABLE forum of breaking in power cords. I almost had to call a code red to get him medical attention, because he couldn't stop laughing so hard.
How anal is this crap?

Would like to add that this has been a useful thread for me. I am running a pair of Granite Audio 860.1 tubed monoblocks into Equation 25 speakers and had been using the 8 ohm tap- never gave it much thought. The speakers are 6 ohm. Tried the 4 ohm last night and was very pleasantly surprised- cleaner, more articulate bass, and warmer midrange, without losing too much on top- just the effect I have been looking for with mixed success by trying different cabling.

Are there any technical reasons that a 6 ohm speaker should be driven better with a 4 ohm than a 8 ohm amp?

Makes me wonder about the Proacs that I sold because I was unhappy with them. Wonder how they would have sounded with the 4 ohm tap.

Of course the output tubes are always connected to the full primary winding of the transformer. So everyone is talking about the secondary windings, 4 vs 8 ohms. However, when you put an 8ohm load on the 4 ohm tap (or 4 on 8) you have changed the impedance loading on the output tubes, even though you never moved their wires. This probably affects the operating characteristics of the tubes.