Why the hate for mcintosh amps?

Who told you to use the 4 ohm tap? Users do experiment. There is no 2 ohm tap, so what did you mean "is 2 lower than 8?"

There is a 2 ohm output connection onback of amp.

is it ok or advantageous to use 4 ohm connection?

emergingsoul OP


With the B&W802’s giving this 3ohm load to the amp
https://www.stereophile.com/images/616BW802fig1.jpg

They demand an amp that can drive 4ohm or less un-phased, even 2ohm, as there is also a nasty EPDR of -64 degrees negative phase angle at 70hz, you could even try the 2ohm tap to get the ultimate bass control, but you won’t have much wattage to go loud with. Really I don't think these sort of speakers are suitable for a transformer coupled amps.

Cheers George

Not smart enough to figure out graph.

so 4 ohms ok vs 8?  Have a sub in mix fyi.

emergingsoul OP
Not smart enough to figure out graph.

Ok look at the solid black line between 100 and 1k (bottom scale) markings, you can see that the black line is below 4ohms (left scale) with much of the bass, your sub won’t fix this heavy load on an amp.

so 4 ohms ok vs 8? Have a sub in mix fyi.

I’d try the 2ohm see if it’s loud enough, if not the 4ohm, the 8ohm will not give the best bass but it will be the loudest.

As for your sub, these B&W’s go down quite low, so the sub should be bought in at around 30hz, and the volume level reset for each transformer tap you use.
https://www.stereophile.com/images/616BW802fig3.jpg

Cheers George.