Tube amps and speaker ohms

Eagleman,

A simplified response -

If bass control seems to be a problem for you when you use the 8 ohm taps use the 4 ohm taps. If you use the 4ohm taps and the highs are not smooth use the 8 ohm taps.

Simply said, use the taps which sound best to you. My guess is that if you are listening at moderate levels the 8 ohm taps might sound best.

Eagleman, feel free to ask w/o feeling you will get criticized. I get snides and insults due to lack of tech knowledge, snotty attitude, "mister-know-it-all", negativity, closed minded-ness. So as long as you don't follow me, you'll do all right here. btw I liked your question and Newbee's appropriate answer. I was not aware of how the 4 ohm and 8 ohm taps respond on different fq's. I still don't grasp ohm idea. Only that 4 ohm draws more volts/current from the tube amp. So it was a good question.

>>I get snides and insults due to lack of tech knowledge, snotty attitude, "mister-know-it-all", negativity, closed minded-ness<<

You make stupid statements.

If you open the door, people will walk in.

The point of the topic was to ask the GENERALIZED question that tube amps prefer 8 ohm speakers(though even 8 ohm speakers can dip to 4 ohms on huge orchestral challenges).

The answer to that is 'yes!', regardless of the tube amplifier technology.

The 4 ohm taps on almost all output transformers (excepting those that the 4 ohm tap is the *highest* tap). perform to a lower level than the other taps. The loss in bandwidth and increase in distortion is readily measurable and audible.

IOW: "Anytime you are investing in tube amplifier technology, that investment will be best served by a speaker that is 8 ohms or more, all other things being equal."

Don't know if anyone is still looking at this thread (which I found very informative as a newbie), but I thought I'd just report back now that my Yaqin MC-100B (4 x KT88's) has been with me for a couple of days.

It sounds amazing!! Okay, it's my first tube amp so maybe this is just me discovering that I prefer tubes to transistors, but I'm hugely impressed. A very full-bodied, yet smooth sound with lots of powerful bass...lovely. By the way, I didn't get to try the supplied chinese KT88's as one got smashed in transit. It's running with a matched quad of winged-C KT88's.

Anyway, to get back back on topic, it drives my B&W 804S speakers, which I believe are considered a difficult load, very well indeed. In 'ultralinear' mode (apparently 60wpc) there is plenty of volume (without clipping) available and the bass is very deep & powerful. There's a lot more of it than there was with my transitor amp, too...which is to my liking. No sign of the sound becoming confused and incoherent at higher listening levels. In 'triode' mode (30wpc), the amp still drives the speakers okay at lower volume levels, but I sense that it does struggle a little when asked to play louder . I prefer the character of the sound in ultralinear mode anyway, so that's of no concern to me.

But, even though I'm more than happy at present I guess I should still look to audition some alternative speakers, as maybe I just don't know what I'm missing!