Double down, good or bad?


I came across this article on Atma Sphere's website:

http://www.atma-sphere.com/papers/myth.html

In short, Atma Sphere believes having a power amp that is capable of doubling its power when impedance is half is not necessarily a good thing because speakers in general do not have a flat impedance across all freq range.

On paper, it does make sense. Though I am sure speaker designers take that into consideration and reduce/increase output where necessary to achieve the flatest freq response, that explains why most of the speakers measured by Stereophile or other magazines have near flat responses.

But what if designer use tube amps to design his speakers, mating them with solid state should yield higher bass output in general? Vice versa, tube amps yield less bass output at home?

I have always been a tube guy and learned to live with less bass weight/impact in exchange of better midrange/top end. Will one be better off buying the same exact amp the speakers were "voiced" with, not that it will guarantee good sound, at least not to everyone's ear.
semi
In the case of the B&W, the woofers are in parallel (4 ohms) and are 3 db less efficient than the 8 ohm midrange and tweeter; if a transistor amp is used it will have double the power into the 4 ohm portion of the impedance curve, thus driving the woofers with the 3 db extra needed for them to operate with the midrange and tweeter. The speaker cannot be driven properly by any amp that does not double power as impedance is halved.
Ralph, re "the speaker cannot be driven properly by any amp that does not double power as impedance is halved," you may recall that we discussed a similar point in another thread a couple of months ago. Wouldn't it be more correct to say that to be able to drive this impedance characteristic properly the amp has to have a low output impedance (relative to 4 ohms), and power capability into 4 ohms that is adequate to support the required volume? In other words, a solid state amp rated at say 200W into 8 ohms, but only 300W into 4 ohms, will do just as well with this speaker (IF all else is equal, and if the output impedance and 4 ohm output power criteria are met) as a solid state amp rated at 200W into 8 ohms and 400W into 4 ohms.

Regards,
-- Al
Kirkus, how do the current dumping type amps like the Threshold Stasis designs fit into your thinking?
Al, in the case of the B&W 802 you need to have 3 db more power into the 4 ohm woofer load as you do into the mids and highs because the woofers are 3 db less efficient. I am ignoring the effects of feedback here and doubtless there are amps that don't quite double power that can do OK on this speaker. I point it out though, because your typical tube amp is not going to work right on this speaker- it literally is designed with the constant voltage model -the Voltage Paradigm- in mind.
voltage source / current source?

I wish I could find the link to the answer to Kirkus post.
This page called out an amp test to determine true output into real loads.
4 ohms / 8 ohms and 45degree inductive / 45degree capacitive.

The area under the square, when graphed properly will show load compatibility of the amp in question.

Most amps, except HT stuff and lowest tier consumer stuff do at least well into a resistive load. Throw in a reactive load to see what you really have.