The Coincident Super Eclipses III will dip into the 6-Ohm region between 3k Hz up to about 5k Hz. Whether this dip in that frequency range is significant to most tube amplifiers, I do not know. The Supers may not be as efficient many of us think. My experience with the Supers and larger amps corroborate some apparent lack of efficiency somewhere. I believe that lower frequency impedance dips *may* be more influential on amplifier demand, but I am not certain about that.
Since I have amps that can be switched between 4- and 8-Ohm output impedance, they do seem to have better control on the lower setting. This probably means that the speaker dips below 8 Ohms. No positive effect would occur to take advantage of the lower output setting if the speaker did not dip into the below-8-Ohms region. Other tube amps (not just mine) with adjustable outputs yield the same results with the Super Eclipses as well.
When it comes to solid state, the larger the amp, the better the Supers seem to perform in terms of sheer control, dynamic envelope, and bass extension. The whole discussion about over all musical appeal with smaller, often times more refined amps vs. larger, brute force amps, is a whole other debate. I am addressing solely drive-ability here.
I would expect some possible sense of "mere idling" on a truly high impedance speaker paired up with solid state amplification, but not with tube amps. SS will (normally) only put out the required current to drive a given impedance load (not talking about SS with output autoformers, here), if the SS amp has the power reserves to deliver the current to begin with, that is. A truly high impedance speaker will possibly not "draw" enough current from a SS amp for the correct target tonal balance or dynamic punch to occur. But tube amps do not work this way. Standard tube power amps pretty much put out the same voltage no matter the impedance of the speaker load, or actually sometimes have *lower* output into lower impedance loads.
My experience with the Super Eclipses (owned the Mk Is and currently own the Mk IIIs) with both tube and SS amps definitely favors more power on the drive-ability score. I am puzzled as to why a higher-powered TUBE amp operating with 4-Ohm taps could not drive the Supers as well as a lower-powered tube amp with 8-Ohm taps. There must be other factors going on.
I believe I have the theories (or principles) correct, but I am open any new information that would shed light on what might be going on here.
Since a few of us have the same model of speakers as the originator of the thread, it does seem odd that we experience such different results. Bottom line as I---and a couple of others---mention earlier, try different amps with different output settings (when ever possible) with your speakers and let your ears be the judge.
Since I have amps that can be switched between 4- and 8-Ohm output impedance, they do seem to have better control on the lower setting. This probably means that the speaker dips below 8 Ohms. No positive effect would occur to take advantage of the lower output setting if the speaker did not dip into the below-8-Ohms region. Other tube amps (not just mine) with adjustable outputs yield the same results with the Super Eclipses as well.
When it comes to solid state, the larger the amp, the better the Supers seem to perform in terms of sheer control, dynamic envelope, and bass extension. The whole discussion about over all musical appeal with smaller, often times more refined amps vs. larger, brute force amps, is a whole other debate. I am addressing solely drive-ability here.
I would expect some possible sense of "mere idling" on a truly high impedance speaker paired up with solid state amplification, but not with tube amps. SS will (normally) only put out the required current to drive a given impedance load (not talking about SS with output autoformers, here), if the SS amp has the power reserves to deliver the current to begin with, that is. A truly high impedance speaker will possibly not "draw" enough current from a SS amp for the correct target tonal balance or dynamic punch to occur. But tube amps do not work this way. Standard tube power amps pretty much put out the same voltage no matter the impedance of the speaker load, or actually sometimes have *lower* output into lower impedance loads.
My experience with the Super Eclipses (owned the Mk Is and currently own the Mk IIIs) with both tube and SS amps definitely favors more power on the drive-ability score. I am puzzled as to why a higher-powered TUBE amp operating with 4-Ohm taps could not drive the Supers as well as a lower-powered tube amp with 8-Ohm taps. There must be other factors going on.
I believe I have the theories (or principles) correct, but I am open any new information that would shed light on what might be going on here.
Since a few of us have the same model of speakers as the originator of the thread, it does seem odd that we experience such different results. Bottom line as I---and a couple of others---mention earlier, try different amps with different output settings (when ever possible) with your speakers and let your ears be the judge.