Most high-quality loudspeakers are 4-Ohms

"Most ss amps aren't at their best into 16 Ohms. "

I'm operating under the assumption that a higher damping factor is in of itself a good thing, all other design factors aside.

Of course we all know what happens when one assumes.....

I suspect different amps will still sound different into 16 ohms and not play as loud, however there is less downside potential along with this as well, if not optimally matched, hence 16 ohms is safer, as I indicated, but not necessarily a lock alone for optimal performance.

% wise I would say that no large speaker company puts in cones
as expensive as what KCS does in relation to how much the speakers actually sell for.
I personally prefer speakers that are hi-eff and that do not need enough power to illuminate New York to get a whisper of sound out of them.
Enjoy your preferences fellow goners'............
I also think that the most expensive speakers are erring down to 4ohms (I maybe wrong on that one though).......
Doesn't mean they are of the most highest quality.

johnk- could you please explain why drivers with 16ohm rdc is superior to 4 ohms? in sIMILAR conctruction they have only thinner wire used at former and thus higher Le(which is not good IMHO) in passive implementation it will fail to 4 ohms drivers which can use lower resistanse coils. the only thing which cna be stated that most amps (even those which cna handle 1ohm load) will have more discortions at 1-3ohms than 8ohms.

I have designe dmore than 80 diferet speakers models with variuos impadances, cmomonly i can say that 10-20ohms speakers are more calm and smoother souding while 3-4ohms are more dynamic and have "grip" in LF(i compare similar designs)

Elviukai,

WHat you said regarding relative sound of speakers with various impedances intuitively sounds right to me.

So then can it practically be said which is higher quality? I do not think so. Different flavors will appeal to different people.

The higher impedance speakers would seem to have less potential to offend, but perhaps are also harder to get a big thrill (in terms of dynamics) out of?

>>12-02-09: Unsound
Most ss amps aren't at their best into 16 Ohms.<<

That might not be the case.

I seem to recall in a previous thread Ralph Karsten saying that all amps, power output notwithstanding, perform better with higher impedance loads.

Maybe Ralph can jump in here and clarify.