Sometimes Hard to Drive Speakers are a Gimmick

Also not going to engage in sophistry, strawmen arguments or putting words into my mouth.  

The data is the data, and sometimes means sometimes. 

And yeah, I do think it’s possible that dealers love hard to drive speakers because it sells bigger amps than they would get otherwise.  I’ve seen it right here on A’gon in a user buying a KEF R 1 Meta.  He ended up with a high current amp as the only one suitable to drive it well.  The Salon anecdote was from a guy who worked for Pass, saying they exactly deseigned the speakers to sell higher power amps. 

So, sure, any state has 1 ohm stable amps, but that doesn’t make them affordable, and in the Focal case, I can absolutely say the crossover was crappy  and designed exactly to sound mediocre unless driven by a very high current amp.  Technology should be making things more efficient, not less.  This is like adding weight to a car just to sell higher octane gas.  

@ OP, I've just read your article, and this is the main takeaway: 

"I can't prove intention in any of these designs."

Well, if you are unable to provide real evidence or intention, it's probably best not to write an article or post on AG.

@bojack  - That I can’t prove intention is not the same as saying there is no evidence of it.  An online anecdote of intention IS evidence, but not proof.  Presenting evidence as evidence and making the distinction between evidence and proof is good writing.  

Would be great if I had access to internal e-mails or an interview with a KEF designer, but the impedance plots and the Focal schematic are strong evidence of speakers being hard to drive without cause. 

Warning an audiophile to be careful about "discerning" speakers is the same of being careful about bright "revealing" speakers.  

At the end of the day if a listener is only going to be happy with a 1 Ohm speaker that requires a $40k amp to go with it, that’s their business, but lets not glorify the 1 Ohm speaker for being 1 Ohm. 

@erik_squires 

Thanks for the writeup.  I get your point regarding the crossovers...  As paralleling two woofers in a tower speaker with a mid and tweeter is very common, deciding the impedance of those woofers along with the crossover design will define the low ohm situation that will fine tune the sound.  The debate seems to be whether some caps & resistors in the crossover are there just to make the speaker sound different (preferably better) with "low ohm" capable amps to elevate the perceived value of the speaker and/or amp ?  especially, if those parts are really not required to enhance the sound.  As you writeup explains, why not parallel 16 ohm woofers rather than 8 ohm speakers to alleviate the issue ?  As you say, because the loudness of the 8 ohm speakes paralleled might match better the cabinet, mid range speaker & tweeter for a better overall sound....   Nowadays, you hear many DIY speakers pushing for flat frequency response and nice impedance curves.  I guess the real question comes down to -- does this or will this really sound better to everyone in every room with every stereo ? 

I would think that the crossover logic that you are seeing as "illogical" is an attempt to differentiate the speaker from other commodity speakers and make them seem special, especially, with a reviewer comment like " these speakers really come to life with xxx amp".  Exactly as your writeup articulates. 

Note: To speak to your point,  I am running Wilson W/P 8 speakers with two McIntosh MC275 tube amps monoblocked.  These speakers have a couple of low impedance dips in the woofer frequencies, and when moderately loud, they sound better with two McIntosh MC275 tube amps in monoblock mode rather than just one MC275 tube amp in stereo mode.