4ohms or 8ohms for refurbished WATT/Puppy 5.1's?


 Hello,

I'm hoping for some guidance here.  I have a McIntosh MC2100, McIntosh C28, and WATT/Puppy 5.1's (7 tweeter and 6 midrange, they are refurbished).

My question is, on my MC2100 there are posts for 4ohms, 8ohms, and 16ohms, and I'm not sure which posts I should be using.  The seller told me they are 6ohm speakers, but that still doesn't do much in terms of helping me understand which one to use.  

I have done some research and listened at both 4ohms and 8ohms, and it seems like 4ohms may sound a tad better. 

I am not very well versed in this realm, so any insight would be very much appreciated!

simonphoenix

Thanks everyone!  I was unsure if it would potentially cause issues with the MC2100 but sounds like it won't.  I am going to keep it at 4ohms for a while and listen before switching back to try 8ohms, since I've had it on 8ohms since I got it all working.

It does not matter, as far as safe operation is concerned.  The 4 ohm tap would probably work best with difficult/demanding loads and almost all Wilson speakers are that kind of load regardless of their efficiency.  

@OP. I'm not sure about the 5.1, but the original series 5 had a couple of severe impedance dips in the bass, including one at 100Hz where there is a lot of energy. But it also had a rising impedance from 5K onward, so it's idiosyncratic. So the best bet is to listen to both taps on a wide variety of music and see which sounds best.