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4-ohm setting with 8 ohm speakers

I have the Nightingale CTR.2 open baffle speakers. The manufacturer claims that "the Concentus CTR-02's speakers and crossover are designed and assembled on the acoustic screen following a scheme meant to guarantee that the impedance stays linear as the frequency changes."

However, with every amplifier used with these speakers, a 4-ohm setting sounds more natural and relaxed. Now I am listening them with the Hans Labs KT-88 power amplifier. With the 8-ohm setting, the sound is more tight, bland and stringent, it sounds more like a mid-level SS amplifier. I am wondering how this can be explained from technical point of view?
transl

Showing 1 response by almarg

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
A linear impedance is not necessarily a constant impedance. For instance, a speaker having an impedance of 2 ohms at 20Hz, and 20 ohms at 20kHz, could still be described as having a linear impedance, if a plot of that variation approximated a straight line.

Without a detailed impedance plot, which doesn't seem to be available as far as I can tell via a Google search, their statement about maintaining a linear impedance tells us essentially nothing.

I agree with the suggestions to just go with what sounds best.

Regards,
-- Al
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