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Which taps 8 or 4 ohm for electrostats?

Hi Everyone,

I have a pair of Martin Logan Ascents which are nominal 4 ohms, dipping to 1.2 ohms at 20kHz. I am using the 4 ohm taps on my ARC VT100.

Someone mentioned that these types of speakers tend to look capacitive in nature to the amp, and have greatly varying impedance values. If they are indeed capacitive, it would seem to reason that most of the fundamental notes would be in an area of possibly greater impedance.

Has anyone tried this combination of amp with stats using the 8 ohm tap? Would this be "harder" on the amp (tubes)? I am not to concerned about the 1.2 ohm at 20 KHz, as I can not imagine there is much at that frequency other than over tones.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Ron
rlips

Showing 1 response by plato

plato
1,543 posts
 
I personally think you'd be better off using the 4-ohm taps.

However, I don't think it would hurt the amp to make the comparison as long as you keep to a moderate volume level.

Once you've made the comparison, if the 8-ohm setting sounds better to you, then use it. If not, go back to the 4-ohm taps. My guess is that the 8-ohm taps won't sound as accurate in the lows or the highs with your speakers; but see what you think and let your ears make the decision.
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