4 ohm tap vs 8 ohm tap

No taps on my Crown PS-200s. The spec sheet says it supports 4, 8 and 16 ohm impedance. 170 wpc at 4 ohm, 100 wpc at 8 ohm, 55 wpc at 16 ohm - max average at 0.1% THD. Just swapped in a lovely pair of new Wharfedate Liniton Heritage Speakers listed at nominal 6 ohm, dipping to just under 4 ohm.

Still breaking in the speakers but they seem to sound best with the Crown at full attenuation, unpowered Shitt preamp with the input pot about 50% and system volume controlled by the DAC streamer input level. The Lintons are 3-way double rear ported, warm and rich with a wide dispersion range. The '70s called, they want their throwback box speakers back :)

Nice  18 yr old thread revival…..

FWIW I tried the 4 OHM taps on my setup and although my speakers are rated as "8 ohm compatible" and are more like 4 ohm nominal. I felt they were a bit constrained on the 4 ohm tap and soundstage shrunk a bit. That surprised me.

After a few LP's I began to not hear the bass. So after you all confirmed that I would not damage anything, I switched back to the 4 ohm tao. The bass is back.

The suspension of any loudspeaker takes a while to break in. You might try the 8 Ohm taps again in a few weeks and see if the bass is still missing. The 8 Ohm tap is more efficient by a few Watts, depending on the output power the amp is capable of. That in itself isn't a big deal.

The load on the power tubes is much higher if the 4 Ohm tap is used on an 8 Ohm speaker. This might mean less power from the amp, but might also mean less distortion (less distortion = greater transparency). So its always worth trying.