Speaker ohm's?????

There is no such thing as an "8-ohm amp." For that matter, the nominal impedance of a speaker is just that--nominal. This is another example of how meaningless most quoted specs are. What would be more useful to know is what is the minimum resistance (measured in ohms) of your speakers, and how much power can your amp produce into that load. But even this tells you little, since power ratings are continuous and it's unlikely that the music you listen to contains continuous tones at precisely the frequency at which your speakers present the greatest challenge.

So stop reading spec sheets and just buy a good-sized amp that sounds ok with your speakers. If you start to hear distortion as you crank the volume up, you might need a bigger amp. Seriously, that's about the only way to know for sure.

Update the thread with either the type of speakers/amp you are considering (or own) and you will get much more usable information from this group. Don't forget to include your budget constraints as well. Some caution is advised if you already have purchased speakers and an amp without giving consideration to the match. Let us know.

Patrick

Hello All
Thanks for allyour help one person asked me to update the trend so what I have right is I'm trying to set up a second system I have a pair of sonus faber concerto that I got from my brother real cheap. and on the speakers it says 6 ohm's I don't have a amp yet but I would like it to be ss amp but not spend alot of money because it is for a bedroom set up. any suggestions would be great Thanks

I've heard the Concertos driven by a 100w/ch Yamaha integrated, and they sounded fine--in a somewhat larger room than you've got, probably. I imagine you could get away with 60w in a bedroom. Best to try things you can take back if they don't work.

I agree with Bomarc's comment's above. The nominal impedance rating is not regulated by the Bureaucrats in D.C. and is little more than a marketing tool. It is much more useful to consider the low DCR point to determine the affective load on a solid state amplifier. The swing of the impedance curve is almost completely insignificant when using a solid state amplifier.

When considering a tube amp the swing of the impedance curve becomes more significant. Sean's remarks above are quite accurate. He expressed this issue much better than I could. The nominal impedance was important when speakers were built with something that actually resembled a nominal load. Speaker builders generally don't pay much attention to the tube guys because they represent a very small part of the market. Hence the impededance swings on a typical speaker are huge. This will directly affect the response curve when a tube amp is used. This seems to be more significant with the SET variety and less significant with the Push-Pull variety. I believe it has something to to with the dampening factor.

Dave