Speaker impedance quality

[ESLDude]

A speaker company that seems to have taken on some reviewers has posted the opinion that 4 ohm speakers are inherently better than 8 ohm speakers. Although 4 ohm speakers may have some advantages in terms of volume it seems to me a severe oversimplification which may lead some to perhaps ignore what are far more important issues involved in loudspeakers. I am not an "audiophile" but a musician who has a deep love of loudspeakers and have built a number of speaker systems, I do not profess any expertise in speaker design but do have 50 plus years of listening so will state my humble opinion for what it is worth -
1 Loudspeaker impedance would be at the bottom of my list for choosing a speaker,
2. I love planar speakers - Especially ESLs and planar magnetics. I realize many don't share this opinion but it is my personal preference however I also conventual systems and I love them in the application where they are used. This has zero to do with their impedance but depends on their design,
3. Bass is another outside position for me. I love transmission lines. I rebuilt my IMF TLS 80sf rom back in the 1970s as they captured bass that worked for me. My Sanders ESLs have transmission lines and make me happy. I also have closed box and bass reflex systems. These work great for what I need them to do.
I apologize for being a bit long winded however for me loudspeakers are the heart of any audio system. To simplify the choice as to 4 or 8 ohm is grossly misleading. Speakers are complex- driver type, cabinet design, xover design - passive or active etc. Electronics are easy - you would be hard pressed to find modern electronics that are not razor flat in the audio domain,
Just my comments on my personal opinions and who would base their speaker purchase based on impedance?

 

[mhardy6647]

I think of nominally "4 ohm" loudspeaker loads, at least as generally implemented nowadays, as unnecessarily sadistic towards the the amplifiers that are forced to deal with them. So many drop to such low impedance at "dangerous" frequencies (i.e., where the signal is apt to require a fair amount of power) that it just strikes me as asking for trouble.

I have no idea why 4 ohm loudspeakers became so common, other than to provide a way to "artificially" add 3 dB of (apparent) sensitivity to their specs -- i.e., if the reference is 2.83 V of signal voltage, as opposed to 1 watt of amplifier power.

I am not a fan of low-sensitivity loudspeakers, either.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I think of nominally "4 ohm" loudspeaker loads, at least as generally implemented nowadays, as unnecessarily sadistic towards the the amplifiers that are forced to deal with them. So many drop to such low impedance at "dangerous" frequencies (i.e., where the signal is apt to require a fair amount of power) that it just strikes me as asking for trouble.

I have no idea why 4 ohm loudspeakers became so common, other than to provide a way to "artificially" add 3 dB of (apparent) sensitivity to their specs -- i.e., if the reference is 2.83 V of signal voltage, as opposed to 1 watt of amplifier power.

I am not a fan of low-sensitivity loudspeakers, either.

So just go ahead and insult ESLDude. ESLs are low sensitivity. And impedance rating on ESLs is always a joke. Rated 4 or 8 ohms, they'll really be like between 30+ ohms at low frequencies and 1 ohm at 20 khz acting like a capacitor more than a speaker.

Yes, saying a speaker is better because it is 4 ohm rather than 8 ohm indicates someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Now with some amps one might be better than the other though only in cases where an AVR won't handle 4 ohms in which case the 8 ohm is the better speaker.

 

[Chrispy]

IMHO lower impedance speakers with the advent of more powerful amps just found each other

 

[Doodski]

IMHO lower impedance speakers with the advent of more powerful amps just found each other

How and when did we get to 4 Ohms speakers is what I would like to know. I remember in the early 80s 8 Ohm was common and 4 Ohms was not as common. Some amps where 4 Ohms capable but the majority where not going from memory.

 

[Blumlein 88]

How and when did we get to 4 Ohms speakers is what I would like to know. I remember in the early 80s 8 Ohm was common and 4 Ohms was not as common. Some amps where 4 Ohms capable but the majority where not going from memory.

I don't know, I'd say late 1980s. Lots of high reputation speakers were increasingly 4 ohm around then. 8 ohm was still considered the norm. Then again, I had ESLs and Maggies. Friend had Apogees. A speaker with more than an ohm was easy in comparison to the Apogees.

 

[wwenze]

More power from cheap low voltage power supplies is always nice tho. 2ohm and 12V supplies.

 

[Doodski]

I don't know, I'd say late 1980s. Lots of high reputation speakers were increasingly 4 ohm around then. 8 ohm was still considered the norm. Then again, I had ESLs and Maggies. Friend had Apogees. A speaker with more than an ohm was easy in comparison to the Apogees.

Yes, I heard many times the legend of the Apogees. Pretty brutal load for a audio amp.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes, I heard many times the legend of the Apogees. Pretty brutal load for a audio amp.

Classe 25s were the go to amp for those.

 

[Doodski]

Classe 25

Wowow a monster.

"The 25 is an excellent amp. It outputs 250 w/ch into 8 ohms and doubles up as the speaker impedance halves (500w/ch into 4 ohms and 1000 w/ch into 2 ohms). It delivers lots of current as well. It runs relatively cool for a high power design and is as reliable as a brick."

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/classe-audio/model-25.shtml

 

[Blumlein 88]

I had a bridged pair of 25s briefly on my Soundlabs (ran a stereo 25 for a few years). Those are rated for 1000 wpc @8 ohms and they were the 2nd best amp I had on them ever. The Soundlabs were rated for 1000 wpc amps. Better are some of the high power class D amps we have now.

 

[Doodski]

I had a bridged pair of 25s briefly on my Soundlabs (ran a stereo 25 for a few years). Those are rated for 1000 wpc @8 ohms and they were the 2nd best amp I had on them ever. The Soundlabs were rated for 1000 wpc amps. Better are some of the high power class D amps we have now.

With that kind of power the woofers can easily be pushed to the stops. That's fun level stuff.

 

[Chrispy]

How and when did we get to 4 Ohms speakers is what I would like to know. I remember in the early 80s 8 Ohm was common and 4 Ohms was not as common. Some amps where 4 Ohms capable but the majority where not going from memory.

Let alone in years before that where 16ohm wasn't particularly unusual as well as generally more sensitive designs as needed by limited amp options...

 

[Descartes]

Classe CA-M600 we’re nothing to sneeze at!

https://support.classeaudio.com/files/documents/datasheet/delta_2/CLASSE_CA-M600_Datasheet_en.pdf

Classé CT-M600 & CA-M600 monoblock power amplifiers Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

 

[Doodski]

Let alone in years before that where 16ohm wasn't particularly unusual as well as generally more sensitive designs as needed by limited amp options...

Yes, the time zone seems to be a transition point where amps had low power, then big power and speakers transitioned to 4 Ohms. I prefer a 8 Ohm speaker because the amplifier selection is easier.

 

[valerianf]

As I do not have a large room and have some neighbors I will always chose a 8 ohm speaker.
I do not compete in car audio (2 ohm speakers of make a party).
History has proven than manufacturers are able to make very good 8 ohms speakers.
It is just requiring more copper and copper is expansive!
The beans counter will not win with me.

 

[Mart68]

My attention was drawn to this the other day:



That most modern speakers offer a tough load for the amp, and that many amplifiers are not really up to the challenge is Hi-fi's big secret and rarely if ever mentioned on most forums or in the literature.

 

[Mnyb]

More power from cheap low voltage power supplies is always nice tho. 2ohm and 12V supplies.

yes cars , i think car speakers are a bigger market than home hifi thus the drivers tend be at 4-2 ohm specs , and yes speaker mfg tend to stoop to inflating sensitivity specs and prefer 4 ohm .

otherwise are black speaker better than white speakers ? i think the OG question is a bit silly , a better question would be why are we at 4 ohm now ?

 

[Mart68]

I think we're at 4 ohm as it gives higher sensitivity.

Sensitivity is still a headline number even in today's dumbed down specs.

Punters don't want insensitive speakers and don't realise it's all more complex than that.

That's my guess anyway.

 

[wwenze]

Sensitivity vs what to be specific

Sensitivity vs voltage, yes.

Nothing to do with efficiency.

Speaker impedance is a number that depends on physical construction. The best demonstration is probably a dual-voicecoil speaker which can be either 2ohm or 8ohm depending on whether you wire it up in series or parallel. Apart from the voltage/current ratio from the amp, everything else in the speaker is identical.