the 4 ohm rating

Mike,
I didn't take it as an attack. Yes, I know speaker manufacturers make speakers with 4 ohm ratings to make their 'sensitivity' ratings look better. Yes, I know that my 90db 4 ohm speakers would be just 87 db at 8 ohms.
I've never had a problem when running 4 ohm speakers though. I guess if I wanted to run a tube amp I might. However, I can't say that I've ever made any changes in my system because I have 4 ohm speakers. My power cords on my front end equipment are thicker than my speaker cables. I've long been a fan of dedicated power lines and conditioners, regardless of speaker design.

The only drawback that I've ever thought of is running tube amps. I've never tried a tube amp yet. I would probably just get a pair of Paul Speltz's Zero's to let the amps 'see' my speakers as an 8, 12, or 16 ohm load should I ever decide to try a tube amp. I can't say that I've ever given a moments thought to buy anything because my speakers were 4 ohm (aside from tube amps). I actually bought my M100's because I liked the way that they sounded. It was afterward I found out that they love 4 ohm loads.

I would have had dedicated lines run and bought my Shunyata Hydra, etc. no matter what speakers I had.

I don't know if this helps or not. I don't know if a system (amps, wires, etc) would work harder on my 90db 4ohm speakers than it would on a 87db 8ohm speaker. If playing at 100db, what does it matter if my amp is putting out 10 watts into 8 ohms or 20 watts into 4 ohms? Both speakers would be outputting a 100db signal. Maybe someone else can answer this.
The only way I could see this affecting the amp would be if the amp doesn't 'double down'. As most high end soild state amps do, I would guess that unless using a tube amp or receiver, it wouldn't be a factor at all. If using a tube amp, it may require an additional investment of $450 for Paul's Auto-formers. That doesn't seem like much money compared to what many folks here spend. Especially since the Zero's can also replace your speaker cables.

Does this help at all? Or am I not understanding what you're trying to say?

Cheers,
John

John I'm with you totally. However, even using tube amp on 4ohm speakers are not much problem at all. I'd rather have flat 4ohm speakers than 8ohm speakers deep down below 4ohm. My BSL Type II is 4ohm with 102db with very flat responce. So it needs 1watt to do 99db and 2watts to do 102db driven by Mothe Si2A3 (3 watt SET). No problem at all. My Melior One is 4ohm (very flat) with 87DB and I use them with Bel Canto SET40 (40watt single ended triode). Again, no problem what so ever. Both my speakers don't have x-over so I gain back 3db at least. Many ways to skin a cat.

A speaker voice coil has inductance as well as resistance. An 8 ohm coil, in order to produce the same force from less current must have more turns...twice as many. This means twice the inductance. Not good.

Magneplanar speakers don't have voice coils. The wires that move the diaphram are glued on flat, so there is little inductance, and that makes Maggies an easy load for the amp to drive, although they do benefit from lots of power.

Some drivers are made with a split voice coil ...essentially two coils at say 8 ohms each. You can hook them up in parallel or in series, and have a 4 ohm or a 16 ohm driver. It has almost no effect on the way the driver works. The choice is made based on how the driver is used with others in a system.

I do not know of a tight, simple relationship between speaker impedance and efficiency (or sensitivity)--in part because the terms are used as averages over a speaker’s entire performance range and a lot gets lost in the wash--but despite this, thinking in terms of the latter (efficiency) can help in understanding the role of the former (impedance). In practice, speakers with low impedances are current-demanding, and this is manifest in low efficiency, meaning that at the frequencies where the impedance is low, it takes more watts to produce that same dB level than where the impedance is higher. Now with this in mind, consider the adage that you can have any two of the following, but the laws of physics--at least how we currently know how to engineer within them--prohibit us from having all three. The three desirables are:

1) High efficiency
2) Small driver size
3) Deep bass

Since we can get any two in any number of speaker designs, let's ignore speakers that would give us only one or none (these speakers exist: see you local consumer electronics store). There are only three ways to get any two of the three above properties, and I delineate them below. (In the points below, I use terms like "high" and "low" and "deep" and "weak" relatively--they are just meant as short-hand to describe to the basic trade-offs and should not be interpreted too absolutely.)

a) High efficiency, small driver, weak bass speakers. Small drivers with weak bass can be built with relatively small magnets, and thus they do not need to pull serious amperage. If you listen to acoustic bluegrass on a 3 watt 2A3 SET with a single driver speaker you can get superb musical reproduction. The purist approach of the single ended triode will complement the inherent time-coherence of the single driver, and you won't miss a beat of sub-70Hz bass because your source music doesn't have any! Perhaps only a little exaggeration in jest in here, but basically, there is a real niche for "weak bass" speakers given the advantages of being able to drive them with just a few Class A full-glory tube watts at high impedances. So this is clearly a high impedance application.

b) High efficiency, large drivers, deep bass. Large drivers (e.g., large in diameter) can be driven by relatively low current magnets because the driver can create a leveraging action, either physically with a large diaphragm or acoustically as in horns. So if you have the space in your room, you can get high efficiency, high impedance speakers with deep bass. Avantgarde Solos go to 30 Hz at 97 W/m/dB in a nominal 8/16 Ohm package.

c) Low efficiency, small driver, deep bass. For a small driver--(and again, "small" here is relative; I don't mean literally small as in 1" or 2", I mean "not large," as in not Avantgardes)-- for a small driver to create deep bass it needs to move a lot of air via a deep throw, and this requires a powerful and relatively heavy magnet. Powering this magnet will require current proportional to its work, and thus the "low efficiency" rating. Clearly, high impedance here (i.e., high AC resistance) is not good, since that only exacerbates the current demands, so low impedance is better: open that pipe and let the current flow! Now the market for not-large, deep bass speakers is, of course, huge. In fact, I'd guess that more audiophiles at some point in their career have gone this route than any other. Many, many speakers are moderate size and seek to deliver deep bass. I'd be interested to know how many full-range, moderate sized, true 8 Ohm speakers are out there that can really reach deep bass without a sub.

So why 4 Ohm speakers? Because if you want produce deep bass in a small enclosure you are going to have to put some demanding magnets at the end of that amp; these magnets are going to suck juice. So far, we just can't figure out how to do it any other way.

Rabelais, Great post! Lights went on in my head! Thanks Larry