2. speakers
  3. 1079754419

Tube amp and speaker impedence matching

I recently purchased a Conrad Johnson CAV-50 and am actively looking for the "right" speakers. I found a couple of speakers (GMA Europas for one - rated 4 ohm) I would like to purchase, but I am concerned about presenting my amp with an improper impedence match and causing damage. The CAV- 50 is rated "45 watts per channel from 30 Hz to 15 kHz, both channels driven into 4, 8, or 16 ohms". I'm pretty new to all this so any help will be appreciated.
cdilascia
tpsonic
1,092 posts
 
I would be more concerned with the efficiency.It appears that 3-4 ohms and up will work fine.Try to find a speaker with 89+ db efficiency and preferably a 8" woofer.The larger the woofer,the more power it will take to control it.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Improper impedence matching will cause roll off, not damage. Unless you plan to listen to music really loud this amp should work with most (not all) speakers. The exception would be if the speaker had an impedence dip down in the area of 2 ohms - this might cause a problem. Ask the speaker manufacturer. He is a fairly straight up guy - I'm sure he will tell you if your proposed match will work.
elevick
2,636 posts
 
I don't know about these speakers but 4 ohm thiels drop to less than 1/2 that which can cause problems and distortion.
gma952b
65 posts
 
Europas are 4 to 5 Ohms for most of the audible band- no lower than 4 Ohms. Very resistive load, and very little back-emf from them makes your power just fine, in my experience- loud enough to have to turn it down to converse in any room smaller than 600 sq. ft, even on recordings with very high peak-to-average levels.
Best,
Roy Johnson
Green Mountain Audio
More to discover