Richard Clark $10,000 Amplifier Challenge - Why Couldn't Anyone Pass this Test??

Good thread. I appreciate this type of discussion because it provokes good technical insight as to speaker reaction due to various impedance variables and damping factors.
I have ZU Definition IV speakers driven by Macintosh MC60 amps. The impedance curve on the Defs are lowest at 50Hz to around 225Hz, being around 6 Ohms at the lowest, with a prolonged rise through the mids and treble.
Damping factor of the Macs is said to be 12.
What, if any, difference in frequency response of my speakers should I hear due to the varying impedance curve?
And just to throw something else out there, I recently purchased a quad of NOS TungSol 6550s that completely changed the bass characteristics of the speakers. The bass is softer but eminently more tuneful, with considerably more detail and nuance.

The complexity of the scenario is go great, that all you can do is try it and see if it works for you.

It's not quite random, but it is so complex that these scenarios really are individual in nature. The paring can be measured and listened to but fully fleshed out ahead of time and then take that and compare it to how your personal discernment and learned aural function relates? Not so much.

Generalizations like horseshoes and hand grenades (close is enough to get some sort of job done), is just about all that is predictable.

@geoffkait 

Yes, I did read the article. I don't understand your question though? Nowhere in it are they talking about differentiating between "live" instruments? Which was the basis of my post as I was responding to your statement:

" Why couldn’t they pass the test? The same reason why a panel of experts cannot tell the difference between a Stradavarius and any other well made reasonably good sounding violin."

I then provided a real life example disproving this statement.

@Nordicnorm Not sure what you're referring to when you say they were not live instruments. Here's a link to a discussion of the two Stradavarius tests.

http://www.thestrad.com/blind-tested-soloists-unable-to-tell-stradivarius-violins-from-modern-instru...

@geoffkait 

Hmmm. Interesting. Perhaps there isn't as much difference between violins? What do I know? I'm only a trumpet player. ;^)

That doesn't mean that musicians are unable to tell the difference between other instruments (as in my Oscar Peterson example).