8 or 16 ohm tube output

[jnorv]

I have acquired a pair of Altec 511B/802-Ds, which I am biamping with a 300B SET amp,along with a Bryston 4B for the base. Currently the output of the amp is set for 8 ohms. It does not have a switch to change to 16 ohms. I have to move some wire around to do it. What can I expect in differences between the two taps? I am not ready to permanently switch it, since I am still going back and forth between the Altecs ( using my La Scalas for the base) and the stock LSs.

J Norvell

This message has been edited by jnorv on 08-13-2002 at 11:51 PM

[Ray Garrison]

Just to add a couple of thoughts to what mdeneen said...

One other difference between the 8 and 16 ohm taps is that (in most cases with most amps) the output impedence of the amp will have less interaction with the varying impedence of the speaker when you are driving the speaker from the lower rated taps. The frequency response variations with frequency will (again, usually) be less extreme off the 8 ohm taps than they will off the 16 ohm taps. How much difference there is will depend upon how severely the impedence varies with frequency on both the speakers and the 300B amp. If there is a significant variance to due this interaction, whether you hear the change when moving between the 8 and 16 ohm taps as an improvement on one vs the other, or simply a change that doesn't sound "better" one way vs the other, is something that you can only find out by listening.

Several other posters that visit this forum frequently have experience with this specific Altec model - hopefully they'll chime in?

In the final analysis, though, I don't think there's any way to evaluate what might happen other than by trying it.

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