Using 16 Ohm Speakers...

[marantzfan]

Just curious about this.  I have been thoroughly enjoying my Stereomour since building it and recently switched from an 8 ohm speaker (Altec 19) to a 16 ohm speaker (Altec 605B).  I haven't yet switched the wiring around from 8-16ohm.  Will this damage my amplifier and if not, is there any benefit to be had to switching to 16ohm?

 

[2wo]

Nope, won't hurt a thing, in fact it is easier on your amp. The Bottlehead Straight 8's were 16 ohm.

If you change the taps, they may play a little louder but use whatever you think sounds best and don't worry...John

 

[marantzfan]

Cool.  I just ordered in the impedance switch so once it's installed I will play around with difference impedances.  I figure it I need to take it apart again to resolder I'd might as well put the switch in so I don't have to do this everytime I want to hear different impedance speakers.

 

[earwaxxer]

True.. The lower the resistance (16,8,4,2 ohm) the more the amp has to work. Also the more power a given amp can produce. There's a limit though. Most solid state and tube amps can play down to 4ohms. 2 ohms is usually reserved for the select few.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

True.. The lower the resistance (16,8,4,2 ohm) the more the amp has to work. Also the more power a given amp can produce. There's a limit though. Most solid state and tube amps can play down to 4ohms. 2 ohms is usually reserved for the select few.

This statement is only true a certain percentage of the time.  It is not true for any of our amps, except in a vague sense with the Crack.

It is no problem to wind an output transformer with a 1 Ohm tap.

 

[Montigne]

Hello out there, first post in the forum and it's about my almost completed assembly of a Stereomour. I'm going to be using 16 ohm speakers all of the time, and possibly  8ohm speakers in the future. From what I've read, am I correct in assuming I should wire my output transformers secondary's as 8 ohms vs 16?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Hello out there, first post in the forum and it's about my almost completed assembly of a Stereomour. I'm going to be using 16 ohm speakers all of the time, and possibly  8ohm speakers in the future. From what I've read, am I correct in assuming I should wire my output transformers secondary's as 8 ohms vs 16?

Wiring for 8 Ohms is likely going to offer the best performance.  If both sets of speakers are very efficient (100+db/W/M), then the 4 Ohm tap also becomes quite viable.