16 ohm speakers: any amp sounds better with more resolution. speaker cables less critical.


First,
  
Thanks to anyone who responds with whatever answers/opinions/advice comes from this. I'm retired, covid bound, Donna is taking care of everything holiday related, too much time, always curious.
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I happened across this in an old thread started by Ralph (atmasphere)

"Sixteen ohms, BTW is a very simple means for getting more resolution out of your system, as nearly every amplifier made sounds better on 16 ohms than it will on 4 or 8 ohms. Speaker cables become far less critical too."

My speakers are 16 ohms (Electrovoice horn tweeter, horn mid, 15" woofer, crossover, rheostats, from 1958).
Extremely efficient, I have more than enough power. Amp, now and in the past all had 16 ohm taps.
Of course I can hook them up to my Cayin's 8 ohm taps now and listen, but facts, opinions, advice, to learn is good.
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Lots of Questions? 

1. why/how do 16 ohm speakers make amps sound better, with more resolution? 

2. why speaker cables less critical? perhaps this is why I/we don't hear cable differences in my system?
I'm using my homemade twisted pair of cat 5 now (8 individually insulated small diameter solid core).

3.  to get exterior bias control: use 8 ohm tap for my 16 ohm speakers? (get alternate amp 4/8 no 16 tap,)

lose advantage(s)? 'sounds better'; 'more resolution'; 'speaker cables less critical'? 

this says slightly more mids:

http://blog.hughes-and-kettner.com/ohm-cooking-101-understanding-amps-speakers-and-impedance/

I can fine tune my speakers via their two rheostats: 'presence' and 'brilliance', so not really an issue for me.

4. Importance of Bias Control

how important is Bias? (I don't care about heat, power output, or tube life, just as bias affects sound). Frankly, using vintage tube receiver Fisher 500C, 800C and Fisher Mono Blocks 80Z, I have never checked or adjusted bias. I just put the control in the center position when cleaning insides/controls.

I have always used 16 ohm taps of various vintage tube and SS amps and newer current tube Cayin A88T. (original version, the only one with 16 ohm taps). It's bias control is internal, versions with safer external bias do not have 16 ohm taps.

5. replace their two rheostats? ('presence' and 'brilliance': copper wire-wound on ceramic body, mid/neutral position).
I have them in neutral position now, l/r frequency response equal.   

do I need to keep rheostats 16 ohms? use 8 ohm rheostat with 16 ohm drivers?

sales sheet says 16 ohm, but data sheet shows range 1.0 to 5k ohms. 

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/303/controls_rheostats-1228697.pdf

does that mean, the drivers will draw whatever they draw (varies thru frequency range anyway), doesn't matter as long as rheostat range starts 1.0 ohm, extends past say 100.0 ohms?

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/303/controls_rheostats-1228697.pdf

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thanks, Elliott











elliottbnewcombjr

Showing 5 responses by three_easy_payments

Did MC miss the part where the OP has 16 ohm speakers driven by a Cayin tube amp? Of course the sound quality is likely to be best when you are matching the impedance of the speaker to the value of the output transformer tap. The higher ohm tap results in less distortion, increased bandwidth and better efficiency. Apparently MC loves distortion and small bandwidth trying to drive 16 ohm speakers from a 4 ohm tap. Oh and there will likely no bass left at all in the speaker output let alone impact and texture. This actually explains a lot of his advice.

And yes, looking at Eric's video and the premium he places on volume I understand why he leans towards 4 ohm designs.   Lower impedance designs are simply an approach to get more power out of solid state designs....not getting lower distortion. sheesh....


very cool product @tvad   I was unaware of it and it would fun to experiment with. I will say, it's nice that my amplifier has 4, 8, and 16 ohm taps and I have spent a lot of time testing various taps along with differing NFB settings.

But why would anyone need this when Einstein above tells us that 4 ohm speakers are always best in every application?  The YouTube video of some guy (possibly a wizard?) proving that a louder a noise can be made by presenting a 4 ohm load to an amp compared to an 8 ohm load was like magic.  That guy is a genius - he figured out that halving the load impedance will double the power output of an amplifier and make louder noises.    
@elliotb  

That video also ignores feedback, distortion, current requirements. easy to be misinterpreted.

That was the whole point of the video was to be misinterpreted in order to bias the viewer into preferring a 4 ohm speaker design - always, because it will be louder (all things equal, which of course they are not). Eric does make the completely worthless disclaimer at the beginning of the video that his viewpoint is only through the perspective of a speaker builder and doesn't consider the amplifier whatsoever.  Why is this worthless?  Because there is always an amplifier and speakers respond to amplifiers differently depending on the amp design.

Can you even imagine a video where an Andrew Jones or Nelson Pass plays photon torpedo noises through 4 ohm and 8 ohm speakers while claiming the one producing the loudest noise is the best - always - categorically....and even to go as far as claim the 8 ohm is obsolete?  It's laughable and goes to show the market Eric is largely targeting. This doesn't mean his speakers don't sound decent - it just means his marketing methods can be off-putting because he assumes people are stupid - at least in a video like this.   
My 96dB/10ohm speakers sound much better on my amp's 16ohm taps than the 8 ohm.  The 4 ohm taps are almost unlistenable.  The 16 ohm taps bring out so much more richness, nuance, and detail.