Bruce, keep in mind that there are many shades of gray in between the black and white extremes. And that applies to both speakers and amplifiers.
While there are some speakers that will clearly be mismatched when used with one or the other kind of amplifier, tube or solid state, there are a lot of speakers that will do reasonably well with either. In those cases, the two resulting presentations will certainly have different sonic characters, but the differences will be such that room acoustics, personal taste, and the intrinsic sonic characteristics of the particular amplifier will determine which is preferable.
And while ALMOST all solid state amplifiers will fall into the voltage paradigm category, tube amplifiers will fall into the power paradigm category to varying degrees, depending primarily on their output impedance (output impedances for 8 ohm taps being equal to 8 ohms divided by damping factor), and its relation to the impedance of the speaker that is being used. As a general guideline, which is applicable to the kinds of damping factors that are most commonly encountered (i.e., those greater than about 2 or so), and to the kinds of speaker impedances that are typically encountered (i.e., nominal values that are in the 4 to 8 ohm area or thereabouts), the lower the damping factor (or equivalently the higher the output impedance), the greater the degree to which the amplifier will behave in accordance with power paradigm principles. (That guideline but may not be applicable in some extreme situations where the numbers fall outside those limits). ARC amps tend not to be as far into the power paradigm category as a lot of other tube amps, I believe mainly because their use of feedback tends to result in lower output impedance.
Take a look at the impedance curve of the Harbeth M40.1. It fluctuates all over the map, yet that speaker is widely used very successfully with tube amps having significantly lower damping factors than yours.
Best regards,
-- Al
While there are some speakers that will clearly be mismatched when used with one or the other kind of amplifier, tube or solid state, there are a lot of speakers that will do reasonably well with either. In those cases, the two resulting presentations will certainly have different sonic characters, but the differences will be such that room acoustics, personal taste, and the intrinsic sonic characteristics of the particular amplifier will determine which is preferable.
And while ALMOST all solid state amplifiers will fall into the voltage paradigm category, tube amplifiers will fall into the power paradigm category to varying degrees, depending primarily on their output impedance (output impedances for 8 ohm taps being equal to 8 ohms divided by damping factor), and its relation to the impedance of the speaker that is being used. As a general guideline, which is applicable to the kinds of damping factors that are most commonly encountered (i.e., those greater than about 2 or so), and to the kinds of speaker impedances that are typically encountered (i.e., nominal values that are in the 4 to 8 ohm area or thereabouts), the lower the damping factor (or equivalently the higher the output impedance), the greater the degree to which the amplifier will behave in accordance with power paradigm principles. (That guideline but may not be applicable in some extreme situations where the numbers fall outside those limits). ARC amps tend not to be as far into the power paradigm category as a lot of other tube amps, I believe mainly because their use of feedback tends to result in lower output impedance.
Take a look at the impedance curve of the Harbeth M40.1. It fluctuates all over the map, yet that speaker is widely used very successfully with tube amps having significantly lower damping factors than yours.
I believe a Power Paradigm amp (tube) will put out the same wattage regardless of impedance peaks.No, it won't eliminate variations in power delivery as a function of load impedance. What it will do is to REDUCE those variations, in comparison with a solid state amp. The degree of reduction will depend on the relation between the output impedance/damping factor of the particular tube amplifier and the impedance characteristics of the speaker.
But if I was starting from scratch and already owned the VS-115, should I have looked to match my amp with a different type of speaker; and vice versa, if I already owned the S-8s, should I have looked to match the speakers with a different type of amp.We had a related discussion a little under two years ago in this thread. For comments that are specifically relevant to your situation, see my two posts in that thread dated 1-5-11.
I think that's the bottom line Q here. How does one make an informed decision?
Best regards,
-- Al