Same watts at 8 and 4 ohms?

My speakers are 4 ohm speakers.

What speakers do you own; brand and name of model?

The most important detail in determining amount of power to drive a speaker is impedance. And the way to research a speaker is to view the impedance curve which shows how much resistance the speaker has across the frequency spectrum. Most curves can be found online. 

@n80

Here's the deal:

With most speakers its expected that the amp will 'voltage drive' the speakers (note that I said 'most'- not all speakers behave this way!).


Now if an amplifier 'voltage drives' the speakers, IOW is a 'voltage source', the power it makes into 4 ohms will be double that of 8 ohms, with a marketing exception: it may not do that at full power. So if you are driving the amp alternately into 4 and 8 ohms, right up to nearly its rated power the 4 ohm power levels will be double that of the 8 ohm levels. But right about that point of full power this phenomena stops as the power supplies and/or output devices can't support that power doubling for that last 3dB.

And that last 3dB has little to do with how the amp sounds or for that matter, how it performs on the bench. The amps you mentioned have no worries acting as a voltage source in this conversation BTW.


It does suggest that a corner was cut somewhere, but in the grand scheme of things a relatively small corner, since 3dB simply isn't that audible to the human ear in terms of sound pressure! OTOH, that first watt is far more important as most of the time that will be where the amp is used most and it is entirely unaffected by this sort of thing.

Now if you really want that doubling of power right up to full power into 4 ohms, be my guest but you will be spending a bit more for that last 3dB, and if you happen to own 8 ohm speakers it won't do you a bit of good. My advice is listen to the amp and see if you like it, if so take it home and see if you like it there, if so, fuggettaboudit and enjoy the music :)

I appreciate you guys helping out. This stuff is mind numbing if you’re not into it.

My primary system is an older one that was given to me. It was researched to the nth degree by the original owner. The point being that I’ve never had to do this sort of legwork and to be honest it isn’t one of the things about being an audiophile that appeals to me.

But, this person passed away and left me the speakers that I’m researching now. They are Aerial Acoustics 6Ts. Specs are below.

These will be part of my secondary system which will get used much less than my primary. It is not in a room that is ideal for listening so ultimate SQ is not the goal here and my budget is limited....you might even say stretched to no more than $2000.

I’ve got several threads going about this and I’m no closer to narrowing my search. Professional reviews can be all over the place and other Audiogon members can have completely different experiences than pro reviewers. One person says product 'A' is awesome and someone else says its horrible. As mentioned, the stats don’t always tell you what you need. And it almost seems like the speakers were designed to require high dollar components.

Here are the specs:

Frequency Response 35 Hz to 25 kHz ±2 dB, -6 dB at 30 Hz
Sensitivity 90 dB for 2.83 volts at 1 meter on axis
Impedance 4 ohms, 3 ohms minimum, low reactance
Power Requirements 25 watts minimum, >50 recommended