What happens to an amp below 2 ohms?

10-13-11: Atmasphere

No, what I am saying is that if those 'electrostatic or ribbon or planar speakers' were higher impedance the owners would be enjoying even better quality sound......

In addition, speaker cables get **critical!** when you are driving lower impedances. With higher impedances the cables are far less critical and can be run longer distances.

ah, I see! Thanks for the clarification.

If a speaker has a reputation of being 'difficult to drive' due to low impedance, the reason that phrase is used has to do with the fact that the amplifier has a difficult task.

Ralph, I did not understand this comment - amplifier has a difficult task & the use of phase. Please elaborate. thanks.

Ralph I am a soundlab m2 owner and have been wondering if using Ma1's with zeros would yield the same speaker performance as using the Ma2;my opinion would be the ma2's would control the panels better than the ma1's and result in a better sound;would you agree with that analysis?

my opinion would be the ma2's would control the panels better than the ma1's and result in a better sound;would you agree with that analysis?

correction! this is not an analysis - it's your opinion (as you correctly write at the begin of this sentence)....

Rleff, its a matter of power- in some rooms you have enough power with MA-1s on the big Sound Labs and in some rooms you simply need more. But you would not need ZEROs in any event.

Bombaywalla, the word was 'phrase', not 'phase'...

Phase is simply put, Power Factor. Another measure of reactance.
The larger the phase angle, the less power delivered to the load. A 1000 watt amp trying to drive a load which has a 90` phase angle will deliver exactly ZERO power at that frequency. cosine 90=0
A speaker which is a difficult load would, IMO, have large phase angles at the same frequencies where impedance dips occur. A double whammy.
My panels? Not a bad load, at all. low impedance, to be sure, but no wacky phase angles to suck up amp power.