Why are low impedance speakers harder to drive than high impedance speakers

 If the former, than some of the lower impedance speakers and higher power transistor amps will be of interest; if the former, then you will be very careful to be matching the speaker to the amplifier (and not the other way ’round) and most likely avoiding lower impedances in general. 

 Ralph, you mentioned 'former' twice in the last part of your post.
Bob

So by and large, @atmasphere re-expressed my explanations for output impedance with a lot of discussion about tubes and distortion.

I may not agree with some of it, but the truth is, voltmeters don’t get pleasure from listening to music. Humans (and cats) do. So while I can say with precision that most solid state amps are more accurate, as far as measurements are concerned, I cannot tell you which you should buy instead of a boat, gun collection, or second home. :)

Tube amps behave and sound different, and some sound quite wonderful. If that’s the sound you are entranced with, you should go that route, but your range and choice of speakers will be different.

I agree that the idea of picking a speaker first is not the right way to go. You should find out which team you want to bat for first. Overall do you like very good solid state, or do you like tubes, and if either, what are their qualities you like?

Also, what is your real listening style? Do you really sit in a throne for 3 hours at a time in front of two speakers alone? Is it usually background music? Do you sit with your partner, friends, etc?

All these matter. :)

Best,


E

I think choosing speakers first has it's advantages. More so than with other components speakers need to be paired more carefully with the room in which they will be placed. More so than with other components speakers are the most colored components, and vary in sound more so than other components. As such it behooves one to make sure those colorations are the least offensive. Working backwards from the listening position will less likely box oneself into technological obstacles. 

I agree with Unsound’s post just above. And while I consider myself to be a "speakers first" kind of person, as he is, I don’t see that as being inconsistent with Ralph’s statements, including:

Often people have a preference about tubes and transistors- the speaker **must** be chosen to take that preference into account!!

Again, this all comes down to intention. Is your intention to get the system to sound as good as it can or is it more important to simply play loudly? If the latter [correction by Al], than some of the lower impedance speakers and higher power transistor amps will be of interest; if the former, then you will be very careful to be matching the speaker to the amplifier (and not the other way ’round) and most likely avoiding lower impedances in general.

As I see it this is saying essentially that what kind of amplification one anticipates using, now or in the future, is one of the major factors to consider in choosing a speaker. That is not quite the same as saying "amplifiers first," rather than "speakers first." Or so it seems to me.

It should also be noted, btw, that there are some speakers that will be equally suitable, or at least comparably suitable, for use with nearly all types of amplification. In those cases the resulting sonics will depend mainly on the intrinsic sonic characters of the speakers and the amp (as well as on speaker-room interactions, of course), with amplifier-speaker interactions contributing minimally if at all. Such speakers will typically have impedance curves that are relatively flat and do not have severely capacitive phase angles at any frequency, and combine relatively high efficiency with the ability to cleanly handle copious amounts of power.

Best regards,
-- Al

For best results, practically, in most cases, I think one has to first match speakers to the thing you have least control over changing (the room) and then match amp to speakers.

The room is the biggest determining factor IMHO that determines the viable approach or approaches for getting the best sound results. I’m technology and product agnostic when it comes to good sound from there.

Of course if one is willing or able to do extensive sound treatment and tweaking of the room that opens up even more ways to skin the cat.

Each case is different. No one solution always works or sounds best in the end.  Budget and funds are almost always a constraint.

If one is more biased towards using specific technologies, whatever that may be, that’s fine as well. The only thing that really matters is people like and enjoy their endeavors.