Very low speaker impedance

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.)

After the elucidating words from Mlsstl, Johnk, Rademaker and others it is clear to me that the impedance issue is only important if you take other parameters of speaker design into account. But I want to put something right here: you have to agree that a 1 ohm or lower than 1 ohm design mandates the use of very rugged amplification. Only a small group of amplifiers are up to the task (Krell, some of the class-D amps, FM Acoustics, Rey Audio to mention a few). This means that those extreme low impedance designs are not for most audiophiles simply because they don't have super rugged amplifiers like the ones I mentioned. Of course this has nothing to do with sound quality.

Chris

The Apogee Scintilla did come in two flavors, a 1 ohm version, and a 1-4 ohm version (both options, on the latter). By all accounts the one ohm version sounds better.

The extra padding down, required on the ribbons, to bring their output in line with the bass panel, takes away some of the magic from the ribbons, in the 4 ohm configuration. Of course you could do an active biamp to get around this, but...$$$$

The 1 ohm Scintilla ribbon, does not need it's output padded down to blend ....in the 1 ohm version.

Note: This is what I read....I've never owned the Scintilla.

Dave