Thanks for the responses gentlemen. Interesting stuff. Glad to hear I'm not hurting the amp. It does sound much better on the 4 ohm taps.
4 ohm taps on an 8 ohm speaker
I'm using a Cary V12r (with 6550 output tubes) to drive a pair of Verity Fidelio Encores. I've always used the 8 ohm taps on the amp. Recently, on a whim, I tried the 4 ohm tap and enjoyed a significant improvement in sound quality. The amp is quieter, with reduced background noise, and the bass tightened up and became more defined. So two questions: 1) I don't think I'm hurting the amp by running it this way, but I'd be curious to hear if anyone has an opinion on that, and 2) Any thoughts on why the 4 ohm taps would sound better on an 8 ohm speaker? Regards.