Speaker Impedance role

[TauRus]

For most of you folks I am sure this is a simple question. In my case I am still wondering what effect various speaker impedance ratings have on the speaker performance. I heard contradictory opinions: some say higher impedance, like 8 Ohms, allow for deeper base, on the other hand many point to the fact that most of the higher end speakers have much lower impedance ratings. Just curious...

[JohnA]

As long as your power amp has the ability to drive the speakers with ease, impedance has no impact on speaker performance at all. The Heresy varies from 8 to over 100 ohms and the K-horn/Belle/La Scala vary from 4.something to about 32 ohms.

The catch is the power amp. It must have the current capability to drive low impedances easily. High impedances limit current flow and unless the voltage and current are wildly out of phase, are easier to drive.

[STL]

A speaker's nominal impedance is just a very rough "minimum" impedance. Every speaker has widely varying impedance values across the entire audible frequency spectrum. So you really cannot read much at all (about just how a speaker will sound) from a speakers nominal impedance!

[TauRus]

Thanks, guys! From your inputs here I understand that there is no direct correlation between the speaker performance and its nominal impedance, hence the fact that many higher end speakers spec at 4 Ohns, sometimes lower, is a pure coincidence.