Are there really a bad misfits in the hifijungle out there

And my Golden Tube PSE with its 3 6L6's per channel (18 watts) is also a better design than a SE amp.

Heidrun 9-1-2018

Not easy that twoleftears.Look at the McIntosh C-52 Pre. That one has on balanced output impedance 200 Ohms.
And if you match it with the Manley snapper monoblocks, that i think is a lovely mix. Then the Snappers have on the XLR 15 kOhms input impedance.
And i cant read the what the heck 15 kOhm is. But it sound a long way from 200 Ohms

Heidrun, twoleftears did not say that the two impedances should be equal, which is how you appear to be interpreting his post. He said that they should be "simpatico," meaning that they should be compatible.

In the case of a line-level analog interconnect, if the output impedance of the component providing the signal is equal to the input impedance of the component receiving the signal (which would be an unusual situation) the results will almost always be very poor. But 200 ohms driving 15K (15,000) ohms will almost always be fine.

For further elaboration, see my post in this thread.

Digital interconnections, btw, are a different story. In that situation the two impedances should be, and usually will be, essentially equal.

Regards,
-- Al

So you consider Thiels and Apogees monsters, Erik? Feed them properly and behold the magic...

Amplifier eating monsters, yes, absolutely. Please read my replies in the context of the OP’s question about misfits. It is not meant to attack your personal speaker/amp choices.

The impedance curves are designed not to be deliberately/unnecessarily difficult, but to deliver the sound character, and especially the bass response, that the designer intended.

This is not always the case, and I was referring to exceptions.

In the case of the Apogees, you are correct. They are purely ressistive and require the current to work against the magnetic force. In the case of ESL’s there is no helping that the entire construction is a giant capacitor. You cannot avoid the impedance dropping as frequency goes up. So, these are both misfits, and the term "monster" doesn't mean ugly or unwanted, but difficult to drive adequately, pretty much as your post to me mentions. 

In the case of the specific Focal speakers I analyzed it was a deliberate choice in crossover design. That is not to condemn all Focal speakers, but it was interesting that in many of the reviews for that speaker reviewers commented on how easy it was to hear differences in amplifiers.

Kosst : 

That's cool. Thank you for ignoring that and any future posts of mine. 

Blessed be,

Erik