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Is it OK to use an 8 Ohm tubed amp to power 16 Ohm speakers?

There’s a lot of emotion and conflicting answers when I Google this. I have an Air Tight ATM-1s and Zu Audio Druid speakers. The Air Tight is factory-set at 8 Ohms and is switcheable to 16 Ohms but requires removing the base plate and resoldering which I’m reluctant to do — or at least not until listening at the current configuration. Air Tight says it’s fine to have 8 Ohm to 16 Ohm speakers — which I suppose is definitive, but I’m asking the question all the same to this experienced community. Btw, I am not an electrical engineer so please don’t be overly technical in your opionions.

Many thanks.
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noromance's avatar
noromance
9,769 posts
 
My Quad ESL57 do not sound good unless I use the 16 ohm tap on my tube amps.
tatyana69
269 posts
 
My recently purchased Proac d80s are 4ohm, which I have never encountered in practice before

I presume that normal 8ohm type amps are all ok to use?

i.e. the reverse of this original thread



bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
Modjeski's light-loading recommendation may be based entirely on implementation with his amps. I have found him to be relatively unaware, and uninterested, in what other designers are doing. Interestingly, I found the same to be true of many musical artists---they are so focused on their own art and career that they are unaware of what their contemporaries are doing.
larryi
3,983 posts
 

tatyana,

If you are talking about using tube amps, your circumstance might be a bit more problematic than using a speaker with a higher nominal impedance.  Low impedance speakers tend to be harder to drive and are more prone to having problems with frequency response anomalies when driven by amps with higher output impedances, such as many tube amps. 

That is not to say that your ProAc will not work well with tube amps, you just have to be more careful and accept that some amps will not work well.  I have heard other ProAc speakers, such as the D48, with tube amps and the particular combinations I heard sounded very good. 

The 4 ohm rating of your speaker should be no problem with any decent solid state amp, and given the particular model you have, I am assuming something far better than decent would be used. 

tatyana69
269 posts
 
Thanks for your comments
I have bought so many speakers (many Proac as it happens) over the years yet strangely no 4 ohm items ... so ...why do makers like Proac suddenly produce a 4 ohm speaker and what did they intend to be the improvement or result?

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