Amplifier circuitry-4 ohm vs 8 ohm

I guess one has to be verse in understanding the role of current (amps), power (watts) and volts in relation to a 4 and 8 ohm tap.

When using a 4 ohm tap the level of resistance is reduced, which means that less current (ie amps) flows, however, a higher voltage level is needed in order to keep the power ( ie watts) level the same as what comes through an 8 ohm tap. An important concept is that the end resulting power (watts) passing through either the 4 or 8 ohm tap is the same (ie total watts remains the same).

What this means to me is 4 ohm taps are designed to deal with a higher voltage level being delivered to a speaker.

And then the big question is, when certain speakers are designed to handle a higher voltage level, this makes the speakers more efficient.

So if we’re talking about more efficient speakers, it means they are designed to handle higher voltage levels. with power levels remaining the same as less efficient speakers.

And with a higher voltage levels, how does this impact delivery of varying frequencies to a speaker driver?

hoping that I got this right. It’s a challenging concept for a mere CPA

The concept of light loading of tubes and transformers would  seemed very important.  Can someone add some clarity to this concept, and how it relates to the overall delivery of information to a speaker driver and/or impact on the amplifiers Health relating to tube operation. Thanks

What does light loading of tubes mean? Is this concept specific to a certain type of amplifier or is it a universal concept.

The manufactures/distributors of these very very expensive products should be better positioned to answer these types of questions.

while above points help to clarify it, there’s still seems to be great confusion about relationship of voltage and its influence to amplifiers and speaker drivers.

It seems clear very few people understand these complex areas, and the communication of this understanding is very challenging. Kudos to those above who have been helpful.

@atmasphere 

I've looked at many tube amplifiers. Interested to know which solid state amplifiers achieve the same goal as tubes?

@atmasphere 

And there in lies the challenge.

I believe tubes represent a more even profile of the harmonics, elevating the harmonics in the upper range better than solid state.

So the richness of tubes and benefits of improved gain at lower levels makes them very attractive.  However, powerful tube amplifiers generate a ton of heat and this is disappointing.  It's like having a portable heater unit set to low continuously while you operate a tube amplifier, as I have learned. Unfortunately most of us don't live in a room with very high ceilings which would be a great place for heat to be accumulated without impacting the humans.

Maybe A more efficient speaker would be more desirable when working with a tube amplifier that uses less watts. ie, Full benefit of tubes without all the heat.

Hopefully I got all this right

@williambf

Very interesting, you make up above.

It seems the impedance curve of a speaker is very important in assessing Ohm range throughout the frequency range. And there by it seems selecting the proper tap somewhere within the ohm range on the curve would influence how each tap may perform.

Very important and I’m gonna get the impedance curve for my speakers which seems a good idea, because I like to think I’m somewhat smart about this sort of thing albeit very slow