8 ohm speaker hooked up to 4 ohm post ?

06-16-09: Blindjim
Silverline Sonata IIIs... reportedly 93 db @ 8 ohms... not dropping below 6 or 7. Sorry but I must disagree with those specs too, by virtue of practical applications.

With a couple solid state amps, which have no such choice of out put taps, they play fine, and only the differences between ss and tubes are then realized. The thinness and tilted up sound was gone.

I know we have had some heated discussions on this topic, but based on your comments here, it appears as though you have duplicated the results of using solid state amps on the Sonata III that I was describing, e.g. the lack of a "tilted up" sound and thinness.

It's been some time, but I recall Alan telling me in an email that the speakers dipped to 5 ohms, and Ralph Karsten suggesting to me based on his examination of the design that the Sonata III likely dip between 4 and 5 ohms. I wish I had saved those emails, but I didn't.

Given that your speakers are atypical in that respect, I
would not generalize too readily from the positive results others have
sometimes reported when they connected to the 4 ohm taps.

Regards,
-- Al
Almarg (Answers)

That's an excellent answer.

Most speakers that "sound better" ('cause it's all subjective) on 4
ohm taps have impedances at certain frequencies that approach, or are
below, 4 ohms. Therefore, the 4 ohm taps provide better tonal balance.

However, if like Al stated, your 8 ohm speakers have a benign impedance
curve that doesn't vary much below 8 ohms, then using 4 ohm taps will
probably not be of significant benefit.

Since there are no absolutes when it comes to personal preferences, the
suggestion to try both taps and choose the one you like is on target.

Blindjim, when you wrote:

With a couple solid state amps, which have no such
choice of out put taps, they play fine, and only the differences between ss and
tubes are then realized. The thinness and tilted up sound was gone.

I understood your statement to mean your observation of a lack of thinness
and tilted up sound was a result of using a couple of solid state amps.

Apparently, I misunderstood your comment, so my initial reply to you in this
thread has no relevance to your situation.

Blindjim, I mistakenly thought there was new ground to cover, and that's why
I posted in this thread. Since I misinterpreted your earlier statement, thereby
making my initial post irrelevant, I see no purpose in revisiting old
discussion.

My mistake. No worries.

06-17-09: Blindjim
...especially how someone could examine something without seeing or testing
it.

This question should be directed to Ralph Karsten.

Blindjim, your question is in reference to Ralph's comment to me about the
impedance curve of the Sonata III, yes?

For full explanation of how he came to his conclusion about what he suspects
is the Sonata III's minimum impedance, he would need to chime in here. He
did not describe to me the method of how he determined this, and
therefore I cannot answer your question.

Ralph shared only his opinion with me based on what he saw on the Silverline
website about the speaker's design, and what he knew already of the drivers
utilized. Apparently, he is familiar with Silverline speakers, and has recommended them in the past for use with his OTL amplifiers, although Silverline Audio is no longer on his
speaker manufacturer list. I believe he still recommends certain Silverline models due to their more benign impedance curves than the Sonata III, but I do not know which models.

I have emailed Ralph with a link to this thread. Perhaps, he'll share how he
came to his conclusion.

Hope that helps.