Connecting 2 sets of speakers to a tube amp

What I have done with my tube amp (Ayon Spirit II) is utilize the pre-out and send that signal to a second integrated amplifier through which I power a second pair of speakers. My tube amp powers the 4 ohm speakers (Montana EPS2's) and a McIntosh integrated powers my back speakers (8 ohm Vandersteen 2a's). This prevents entirely the problems that Almarg mentioned above. Further, with two integrated's I can taylor the front vs. back speakers beautifully. Running two channel 4 speakers makes the system sound DRAMATICALLY larger, more full, and realistic with vastly superior sound stage. The difference between the 2channl/4 speaker and the 2 channel/2 speaker is staggering (akin to tripling system cost or more)

So... that is what you should consider doing. Of course, your tube integrated needs to have a pre-out to do it...

Thank you for your help. I will use the pre-out to a second amp.

You could always wire the speakers in series instead of parallel.

Marty (Viridian), note that the speakers are different models, one being rated at 4 ohms and the other at 8 ohms. Series connection of different models will usually result in significant sonic degradation.

How the voltage and power being output by the amp at a given frequency at a given time will divide up between the two speakers depends on the relation between the impedances of the speakers at that frequency. Therefore the frequency response of each speaker will be affected in an arbitrary manner by how the impedance of the other speaker varies as a function of frequency.

Another factor that might also be an issue with a series connection is that the 8 ohm speaker will receive considerably more power overall than the 4 ohm speaker. Based on the oversimplified assumption that the impedances of the two speakers are purely resistive and correspond to their 4 and 8 ohm nominal ratings, the 8 ohm speaker would receive twice as much power as the 4 ohm speaker.

Regards,
-- Al

Al, absolutely correct, and those are the issues that result in us generally not seeing series connected speakers, even of the same impedance, in high fidelity applications, but it's certainly worth a try as it is the only solution that will present a high enough load to the driving amp. There should be no danger in trying and it will only take a few minutes to find out the bad news, LOL!