What Class D amps will drive a 2 ohm load

A few minutes ago (14:00ish hrs GMT), I spoke with Colin at Nord Acoustics primarily with my own system in mind.

However, I remembered this thread and mentioned it to him. Colin is positive that even Nord's entry level "MP" amps will, in almost all cases, be able to drive speakers at 2ohms.  I'd say to the OP, contact Nord directly and run your thoughts by them.  I'm pretty sure the last thing Colin will want to do is sell an amp that turns out to be useless!

It's disappointing that this thread descended into an echo of 99% of cable threads....

PS:  For the avoidance of doubt, I have zero vested interest in any audio equipment manufacturer or supplier.

Anyone know why Thiel designed such hard to drive speakers

Not just Thiel, there's many others that strive for perfection and they're usually the most expensive.
 
Xovers/drivers ect, are complicated to get everything to operate in the most linear function and best specifications without having many compromises, that most efficient speakers tend to over look for the sake of efficiency.
That's why you need great amps usually with great speakers otherwise you don't get what's the speakers capable of giving you, if not you compromise the speakers performance. 

Cheers George    

I'd say to the OP, contact Nord directly and run your thoughts by them. I'm pretty sure the last thing Colin will want to do is sell an amp that turns out to be useless!

Now your twisting things by saying "useless".
Of course it will "work" and he will say so, but will it get the very best out of the speakers?, DEFINITELY NOT! especially in the bass where they are a pig of a load.

I have a Classe Class D Sigma Amp 2 driving Wilson's which I am told dip down to 2 ohms.  They sound GREAT.

Here is what Classe states:

All amplifiers except the CA/CT-5300 have a virtually linear doubling of output between 8 ohms and 4 ohms but since it can be a misleading figure, we do not supply details of their performance at 2 ohms.

This by no means implies that our amplifiers cannot operate at 2 ohms, which they obviously can. Impedance varies with frequency and most high quality speakers have the capacity dip to 2 ohms. Since our amplifiers are specifically designed to drive the world’s best speakers, they will have no problem driving a 2 ohm load.

Nevertheless, driving 2 ohms in the real world requires an enormous amount of power, which is sometimes technically unavailable from the AC mains power outlet. This means that these types of specifications are vulnerable to external conditions, and can therefore be misleading. Clearly, we do not want our customers to make decisions based on potentially misleading information.

I have seen some commercial speakers from Focal introduce a 2 Ohm low deliberately in the crossover. Took quite a number of caps and resistors too.


My guess is that amps with low impedance around 100-150 Hz sound more discerning, more snobbish of amplifiers. "Look at me, I can only be driven by high current amps, so I must be better."


I have also seen designs from Infinity which were an utter part crap fest. My guess for them is that at the time they were designed good simulation and measurement tools were far too expensive, and they reached their sound empirically with no concern for the amps. You may think "well, nothing wrong with voicing by ear" but the designs I’m talking about could easily have achieved equivalent results with easier to drive impedances.


Kudos to Joseph Audio for going the other way, and actually adding crossover components which make them easier to drive by a wider range of amps.

Best,
E