4 ohm or 8 ohm tap on old tube amps?

One advantage of using the 4- versus 8-Ohm tap is that the amp will have twice the damping factor so the bass probably will sound better damped...which may be better or may be worse.
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Yes I heard about the damping factor. My bass is really tight for an old tube amp, and I wonder if the system will be less so on the 8 ohm tap. I'll try it tonight and post back.

BTW I read on some site that Sid Smith and Saul Marantz disagreed about whether there should be a low frequency filter built into the 8B to filter out turntable rumble, so they compromised and made the "test" outputs without the filter (as Saul wanted) and the normal outputs with it, as Sid Smith wanted. So the "test" outs are the ones to use.

Jim

I think user name KT88 gives an idea of what happens in this other thread.

Hifitime, KT88's post sounds impressive, however, VTL and Manley Labs have always provided only one output on their amplifiers set at approximately 5.5 ohms for the best sound with the majority of speakers.

07-22-12: Rrog
Hifitime, KT88's post sounds impressive, however, VTL and Manley Labs have always provided only one output on their amplifiers set at approximately 5.5 ohms for the best sound with the majority of speakers.

Yes, they did it by choice. However, you can see some significant differences in this test done by Stereophile. It really shows in the power output differences between the 4, and 8 Ohm output power measurements. Without the other impedance taps, we'll never know how it would compare sonically, to its one fixed output.