Tvad wrote:
"An amplifier manufacturer told me yesterday that the use of Zeros will reduce the maximum power available to the loudspeakers. So, they do not appear to be an ideal solution if using low powered amplifiers."
I think the amp manufacturer was over-generalizing a little bit.
What he told you is almost always true for solid state amps, and almost always untrue for OTL tube amps. With transformer coupled tube amps (the vast majority of tube amps fall into this category), the Zeros would improve the power output insofar as they bring the speaker's impedance up into the output transformer's optimum range, and will degrade the power output insofar as they push the impedance up beyond that optimum range. Since most speakers have an up-and-down impedance curve, focus on the region where there's lots of music energy - say 80 Hz to 600 Hz or so (just pulling these numbers out of the air).
Power transfer isn't everything; I have found cases of 16 ohm speakers sounding best on a tube amp's 4-ohm taps (which greatly reduces the available power). I just wanted to register my dissenting opinion about what the amplifier manufacturer told you.
With a product like the Zero, the question is whether or not it's a net improvement. Evidently in many but not all cases it is.
Duke
"An amplifier manufacturer told me yesterday that the use of Zeros will reduce the maximum power available to the loudspeakers. So, they do not appear to be an ideal solution if using low powered amplifiers."
I think the amp manufacturer was over-generalizing a little bit.
What he told you is almost always true for solid state amps, and almost always untrue for OTL tube amps. With transformer coupled tube amps (the vast majority of tube amps fall into this category), the Zeros would improve the power output insofar as they bring the speaker's impedance up into the output transformer's optimum range, and will degrade the power output insofar as they push the impedance up beyond that optimum range. Since most speakers have an up-and-down impedance curve, focus on the region where there's lots of music energy - say 80 Hz to 600 Hz or so (just pulling these numbers out of the air).
Power transfer isn't everything; I have found cases of 16 ohm speakers sounding best on a tube amp's 4-ohm taps (which greatly reduces the available power). I just wanted to register my dissenting opinion about what the amplifier manufacturer told you.
With a product like the Zero, the question is whether or not it's a net improvement. Evidently in many but not all cases it is.
Duke