8 ohm speaker hooked up to 4 ohm post ?

OK- here's how I did it: I googled the Sonata III and did a lot of reading and combined that with experiences our customers had with the speakers.

I suspect that the break-in discussion in this thread is very real. When the woofer is new and the suspension is stiff, it will resist efforts to move is to a greater degree than after the suspension has loosened up. I have experienced this before on the Snell B, which needed to be broken in for several weeks on transistor gear before tubes would sound right/could be used on them (no bass otherwise).

I suspect this phenomena is occurring with the Sonata III as well. The reason we took them off our very abbreviated list is that a customer sold his amps when they did not drive his Silverlines. In the old days any of the Silverlines were easily driven by any of our amps (in fact we showed with Alan at CES), but now-days it seems like the Silverlines are being built for transistors, which dominate the market. That way you can sell more speakers, although IMO/IME they will never sound as good.

Atmasphere

Many thanks for being so forth coming with both, the how and the why of your investigations/insights on the Sonatas. Were it only so that more high end audio makers were so involved, and responsive to the fold.

Perhaps, my now quite extended use, with both SS and tubes driving them alternatively during different applications, (HT & 2 CH) has accounted for their now greater ease and control in conjunction with the EL34 monos.

What ever the reasoning, and your remarks do seem to add up regarding their initial ‘stiffness’, the current ‘loosened up’ ’results I've heard from them now that they’re on the higher output taps, are more than enjoyable and a definite increase in obvious performance.

This switch was tantamount to integrating another component altogether!

I would like to thank many of you for your input. I switched from the 8ohm posts to the 4ohm posts for a few days and listened to the music. I did have to turn up the volume a little to get the same level of sound. The Bass was tighter, the midrange lost some bloom, and the highs seemed a little rolled off. there was'nt any BIG changes though. I was surprised, but there seemed to be a little more detail in the music. I like my tube sound though,the mid bloom and high air you know, so I've switched it back to the 8ohm posts. Still listening for a better sound...