Two things- you may have slightly higher distortion on account of the transformer ringing. Often this is offset by the tubes themselves having lower distortion. You will also get less power.
16 ohm speakers with 5 ohm amp ?
Hi all,
What happens when you pair a low ohm amp ( Manley Stingray ipod ) with a high ohm speaker ( Zu Oman/ Spacial M3 or 4 Turbo triode) ? 5 Ohm amp output to 12 to 14 ohm speaker. Thanks
- ...
- 8 posts total
you may be ok regarding damaging equipment, but, that is pushing things beyond normal.
using 8 ohm tap for 16 ohm speakers boosts the midrange frequencies which you may like (voices are here), or want tone controls to adjust things (be conservative). most pre-amps have simple bass or treble controls, (i.e. not midrange tone controls) and we hear less highs as we age, so boosting highs can be less problematic than boosting bass which is the primary source of room interactions. boosting both bass and treble to balance with midrange is not a situation I would want. see the graph in this link http://blog.hughes-and-kettner.com/ohm-cooking-101-understanding-amps-speakers-and-impedance/ excerpt (so don't overdo it) Case 1: running a 16 ohm speaker with an 8 ohm amp output With this combination, the voltage at the speaker output will rise, while the current will almost halve. The power will drop, although you probably won’t notice it too much, as this combination will likely increase the mids in your tone. So long as you don’t overdo it – make it a rule of thumb not to connect a speaker with more than double the output impedance of that of the amp – this method can be quite useful, as you can effectively boost the mids in a cab that might otherwise be lacking in this department. |
Thanks guys, So I do own a pair of Zu omans that I never did love the sound with the Manley. I am thinking of a pair of Spacial's so will rule out the Triodes'. I did get a 10 ohm speaker load resistors(snubber) from Zu Audio for the Omens. It did improve the sound a lot, much more listenable. Do I need to be concerned about the addition of the resistors harming the Stingray ? |
- 8 posts total