La Scala IIs & PrimaLuna - 4ohm vs 8ohm?

[JFHSQT]

I've been messing around with a new DAC (Hegel HD30), running it through a vintage Luxman valve preamp into a PrimaLuna ProLogue 4 tube amp, and decided to do some experimenting this evening.

 

I'd read that the Hegel sounded just as good, if not better, bypassing a preamp and using its own volume control directly into an amp. So I plugged the Hegel directly into the Prima and cannot say I heard any difference at all with the Luxman in the signal chain. No better, no worse, which to me says, well, why mess around with a 38 year old vintage tube pre? 

 

Going one step further, I'd read that some PrimaLuna owners found that the 4 ohm taps sounded better to them than the 8 ohm taps.

 

So again, swapped out the La Scala II's 8 ohm tap over to the 4 ohm tap...

 

And the results were actually more notable than the preamp/no preamp comparison. It does sound to my ears that the 4 ohm tap sounds a bit more relaxed and open, maybe even a bit smoother in the mids (smooth mids in the LS IIs is why I love them in the first place).

 

So 3 questions - are my ears playing tricks on me, why would the sound be different, and will this harm either the PrimaLuna amp or the La Scala IIs, since they are 8 ohm speakers?

 

[hammershaug]

4 ohm outputs will not harm anything. What sounds best for you is the right choice.

[JFHSQT]

3 minutes ago, hammershaug said:

4 ohm outputs will not harm anything. What sounds best for you is the right choice.

Great, that's exactly what I needed to hear.