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Very low speaker impedance

Hi folks, I would like to know what is the reason that some speaker designs have such a low impedance. For example the lowest impedance of Kinoshita studio monitor speakers is less than 1 ohm (near short)! Why does the manufacturer choose for this kind of ridiculously low impedances? Do speakers with low impedances sound better than speakers with normal (between 4-8 ohm) impedance? Some of those speakers do sound excellent: Apogee Scintilla, Kinoshita studio monitors, the old Thiel CS5i. If the answer to this question is: yes, then most today's speaker manufacturers are compromising the sound of their designs for a more benign impedance behaviour, so the consumers won't be having trouble with their amplifiers. With other words, the choice would be a commercial rather than audiophile one. Are there speaker designers out there who want to give their response?

Chris
dazzdax
dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
Ok, thank you all. I was just wondering why some speaker builders are designing speakers with ultra low impedances (probably they want to look which amplifier would be able to drive or to survive them..., just kidding). I think nowadays the speakers with true 1 ohm (or less than 1 ohm) impedance are very uncommon, do you agree? Probably this has to do partly with advances in driver technology, because the peak incidence of such ultra low impedance speakers was mainly situated during the eighties (Apogee, Thiel, Wilson, Kinoshita).

Chris
rademaker
88 posts
 
Chris this is not true, current Kinoshita speakers are still using under the 1 ohm loads,. even with the current technology they themself are still the worldwide reference for true monitoring.
rademaker
88 posts
 
The ultra low 1 ohm loads has really nothing to do with outdated technology, it is simply what the designer intended to design and tninks what sounds best according to his opinion.
Chris you should not thinks to theoretically, it is the total design which makes a speaker sounds beautiful,and that is far more complex then the 1 ohm load only, so many other factors !!!
dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
Let me put it this way (and this would be my last question before I shut up): Is it with today's technology necessary to implement an ultra low impedance into ones design to get excellent sound?

Chris
mlsstl
1,443 posts
 
Impedance is still the same variable these days it always has been. So are all the other variables.

Switch gears to fighter aircraft for a moment. During WWII the Mitsubishi Zero was one of the most maneuverable fighters around. One of the reasons was the manufacturer left off most of the armor plating that protected the pilot. The reduced weight help make the plane more maneuverable. (That's an interesting choice if you happen to be the pilot.)

Fast forward and we now have materials that provide pilot protection but weigh less. But they still weigh something and still take up room. The plane's performance would improve if you left off those materials, whether the old armor or the modern version.

So, sure. Modern materials and techniques may lessen the burden of a design compromise compared to older techniques, but that doesn't get rid of the issue.

You're still on your one-note samba. Even today, impedance alone does not determine the quality of a speaker. It is just one of dozens upon dozens of factors a speaker designer gets to juggle.

(Written as I am enjoying a gorgeous rendering of the 4th movement of Beethoven's String Quartet in G on my very 8 ohmish Spendor SP1/2Es.)
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