Current amp vs Voltage amp

This thread is very educational and thought provoking and comments here are well informed. It really asks the obvious question, why on earth do we have such a high number of these roller coaster impedance speakers? What is their upside. Does it truly demand that much more high level engineering expertise to build flatter impedance speakers with better phase angles? If that's the case then those who are capable of doing this deserve more respect and recognition for their achievement. It's a superior speaker when it allows the buyer more flexibility with amplifier selection.

Because with available amplifiers capable of dealing with them, it might allow the speaker designers to put more emphasis on other considerations?
One could also ask why amp designers choose not to build amps that can deal with such loads?

Unsound -- fair point. But if nothing else changes, A'gon members who read this post and other like it will realize that it takes more than lip service to think it's an easy task to match speakers and amps.

Not sure this is true, but I surmise that most (not all) of the hi-end speakers on the market have roller coaster impedance and phase angle plots. Al and Ralph have made this point many times -- it's important to understand what the designer had in mind when designing a particular speaker.

As I mentioned above, my S8s are advertised to have a pretty flat FR plot, as confirmed in a number of independent bench tests. And maybe it's true. But as I also mentioned above, it was only after I called Paradigm that I learned for a fact that my speakers love high current/high power SS amps. Almost eats them up for desert.

So the lesson for the rest of us is that until there is more disclosure, caveat emptor is the rule. If one is interested in a particular speaker, unless the sales literature recommends a particular type of amp, call the factory and ask questions until you get a credible answer. Let's face it, speakers and amps can cost a lot of bucks. The smart consumer will ask questions to ensure the pieces fit together.

Cheers and I hope our fellow members will read this post.

Bifwynne,
Good post.Why should the burden be on amplifier designers to build larger,more complex and expensive models in order to manage these inefficient and difficult to drive speakers?That`s putting the cart before the horse.

Bombaywalla`s point is quite sound, why not better design/engineering from the speaker manufacturers to avoid these problems?

Charles1dad, I'm not an engineer, but try to be a pragmatist. I also stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. LOL :>')

I think others have made the point that amp and speaker designers have to make trade-offs to achieve a certain result at a certain price point. I appreciate that there are a number of "tube friendly" speakers on the market (I am aware of at least 3 or 4 off the top of my head), but I suspect that most are not. Consequently, I surmise that most speaker designers assume that their gear will be driven by high output SS gear and if compromises have to be made, it could be impedance and phase angle attributes.

So maybe the real issue is that while tube amps possess certain sonic attributes that SS amps can only hope to mimic, perhaps if something has to "give," tube amp manufacturers will have to figure out a way to make their products able to do double duty and handle speakers that are designed and voiced to be driven by SS amps. Ralph and Al have made a point that such amps are heavy and costly. Perhaps that will be the design challenge of tube amp manufacturers if they want to compete in the present and future marketplace.

In the meantime, I have tweaked and configured my gear whereby I am better able to enjoy the music without experiencing listener fatigue. I don't know how flat the FRs of my S8s are, but the output is musical. I'm standing down for now with respect to switching out gear. Next time, I'll be a little smarter when putting gear together. We all live and learn.