8 ohm speaker hooked up to 4 ohm post ?

I have a similar question to the OP. When I called the dealer of Prima L. last year to buy the PL2 model, the dealer told me to connect my previous 8 ohm speakers (Totem Sttaf) to the 4 ohm taps! He told me the speakers will sound better!? I did not ask why, and until now, I still don't know why!

Hi Tvad
Hope all is well with you and your’s.

Thought you’d chime in sooner… I’m also glad I took some added time to edit and clarify my thoughts with regard to this experiment which was long over due.

The following may surprise you as much as it did me.

Well…. I did as I said I would with my tube amps and Sonata IIIs… reverting to the 8 ohm taps.

There are differences to be sure. Though not necessarily those I projected via past experiences. Briefly…

…I got the Dodds just a week or two after receiving the Sonata IIIs brand new from Silverline out in Northern California. Initially I had on hand a BAT VK 60, a borrowed Rotel 1080, and my trusty dusty Sony HT 444es receiver for power plants.

I had not yet adopted fully the “hell, just try it attitude” I have today, with respect to checking out the various output taps on tube amps or just other things in general. Consequently, I used only the #8 on the VK60. I completely ignored the 6 & 4 ohm outputs.

I sold the VK 60 to a friend shortly there after. At the near same time a friend who had owned likewise Dodds and speakers .with similar specs to the Sonatas told me that maybe I should try the 4 ohm taps with my speakers.

The Sonata IIIs had around 150 – 200 hours of break in on them. No more. Likely less.

They sounded ok to me and better than other speakers I’ve owned in the past at similar run in times, but not as full as I would have liked them to be. So I switched over to the 4’s. Bingo. All was well.

I’m also the sort that maintains, “if you like what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing.” So I did. ‘til now.

In the interim, of course, the Sonatas fully ran themselves in.

Then today I made the switch back to the 8’s again.

Listening after about six hours of operation, in a word the differences in the sound between both taps is… “more” if the higher taps are in play.

My fears had been that I’d be returning to the thinner, tipped up sound I had experienced prior to the speakers being fully broken in. such was not the case however. By contrast, the overall sound was somewhat less richly displayed yet it remained natural and involving. Quicker. More lively though not altered timberally speaking. Svelte, robust, and palpable.

Continuing to listen with familiar tracks the additional resolution, detail, and ambient retrieval was markedly improved. This welcome addition overshadowed my previous experience with warm and richly revealed cues as the sound presented became more inviting. The presentation inundated me with more musical truth thereby creating a more realistic setting in front of me.

Sure enough, some loss of big and thick occurred. So too was there some loss of dark and unrealized. The replacements did however outshine that experience simply by conveying far greater musical and venue oriented statements which offered up a more inviting scenario overall. I sat there mesmerized as all this took place about me. I kept waiting for the edgy strident, and brittle behavior to return, and finally just got tired of waiting for it. It was then I succumbed to this new system sound.

Naturally this obvious transformation once adjusted to, was more than welcome. Had it come at the expense of tonal encumbrances, brittleness, etching or glare, it would not have been well received, trust me on that part.

No tilting up of harmonic quality took place. Strings revealed both picks and bow activities upon the string itself, with more ease and without subtracting from the notes being played. Vocalists head movements about the mike, and their breaths became synonymous with their expressive content. Dog house bass tones were yet more practical and resolved possessing greater immediacy and range. Hartman and Prysocks’ baritones remained baritone. Symbols gained more shimmer. Banjos got pluckier. Mandolins sweetened up. Raw boned wailings from the likes of Johnny Lang, Dr John, Wilson Pickett, and the inimitable Joe Cocker, made me transcendentally revisit some of their past concerts.

More so too was the space between musical objects. This added ‘air’ enhanced the whole of each exhibit. Sometimes only marginally, most often though, by far more. The expanse of the stage did not bloat or swell however… merely it became starkly ‘intuitive’. Each time with regards to the track info of course, the notion of how much of the “they are here” or “you are there” being represented, was enhanced.

I was mystified, a little upset, and pleased, all at the same time, or quite close to each other so it seemed simultaneous.
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Given the precautionary accounts listed herein, I’m quite glad of two things, I don’t listen at paint peeling levels any longer, thus perhaps saving both my speakers and amps, and I’m still open enough to take my own advice and that of others to try something else.

So I’ll stick to my earlier words, and add this, “Make sure the speakers are fully run in and then some, to more accurately discern what ever the sonic distinctions might be. lol

THEN, ‘try both sets of taps for yourself.’ And If prudent volume control is your position on listening levels, no harm will come to your gear I suspect. There will be dissimilarity most likely in the sound and presentation though from one tap to another.

Al’s post make good sense too, about plate voltage & load, for adding life to the gear, so there’s that as well.

BTW…. I’m currently enamored with this ‘change’ so I’ll be sticking to the higher imp output taps on my mono blocks for a while… and make sure speakers are fully run in and then some in the future, before I go fiddling about with impedance matching scenarios... and/or switching in and out amps or other gear.

Simply amazing…. Huh Tvad?

Thanks very much for your thread, the exp, and other's help here.

Good lluck to you Cliff56 .

Tvad said
“…it appears as though you have duplicated the results of using solid state amps on the Sonata III that I was describing, e.g. the lack of a "tilted up" sound and thinness.”

Blindjim said
To me, It appears they just got completely broken in, given my above notes… and weren’t when I made the switch to lower imp output taps which would not support them quite as well.

Tvad said
“It's been some time, but I recall Alan telling me in an email that the speakers dipped to 5 ohms, “

Blindjim said
I heard him say to me, ‘six, on the phone and posted it as such’.

Tvad said
“… and Ralph Karsten suggesting to me based on his examination of the design that the Sonata III likely dip between 4 and 5 ohms. I wish I had saved those emails, but I didn't.”

Blindjim said…
Tvad… did you send your Sonata IIIs to Ralph for a look see? Or did he collect a pair locally to look into first hand?

I wish you had saved his measurements of the Sonata IIIs, were any taken during that particular ‘examination’. Hey… Maybe Ralph saved those measurements himself! Otherwise, as much as I do indeed respect Ralph C. input and experience, I guess some actual numbers would carry more weight on this topic, than would projections. I sure would have been interested enough to have both our pairs measured in fact… or find out just how the measuring should take place.

BTW... Didn’t you have some issues surrounding the demo units you purchased, not being actual demonstrators, or something? I know mine were brand new… and maybe later models. Maybe you should have gotten the other new piano black pair he had on hand at the time I got mine instead…

Honestly, I ddon’t know. I also gotta surmise such disparity between similar pairs of Sonata IIIs are more than just a listening preference thingy. Either it was that or my thoughts on manufacturing consistency might have some validity.

For some time I’ve been more slated towards a bit more syrupy sounding system because my hearing is sensitive to any brightness, harshness, grain, etc., causing me fatigue readily. Also, I simply did not believe other owners saying they needed as much as 400 hrs. to be fully run in…. I do now know they need more than 150 > 200.

Truly, there’s nothing in the sound now which is errant. It is a whole new gball game though. In fact it’s one I figured to quit chasing. You know the one… high resolution, yet still exceptionally musical. Usually one trades off to either side of that coin trying to reach that fine line. Although I may not be dead on it now, I’m closer to it than ever before. It ain’t hi fi-ish either… and it sure ain’t bad! I do still regret taking this long getting around to trying this simple switch.

Now I can gladly forgoe thinking about another set of mono blocks or speakers... for a good long while.