[riverrat373]

I recently purchased a Jolida 102CRC tube amp and a pair of Polk TSi300 speakers. The speakers are rated at 8 ohms and the Jolida has connects for both 4 & 8 ohm speakers. I read somewhere that some speaker/amp combos sound better if you connect 8 ohm speakers to the 4 ohm outputs. Would this cause any problems? Any experience with this out there?   

[Steve]

I recently purchased a Jolida 102CRC tube amp and a pair of Polk TSi300 speakers. The speakers are rated at 8 ohms and the Jolida has connects for both 4 & 8 ohm speakers. I read somewhere that some speaker/amp combos sound better if you connect 8 ohm speakers to the 4 ohm outputs. Would this cause any problems? Any experience with this out there?   

The following will occur.

1) damping factor will increase

2) peak plate current will be reduced, thus less stress on the output tube(s) (except class A operation)

3) high frequency response will be slightly reduced, but may not be noticeable because bass will be tightened up. HF will be reduced because leakage inductance is higher with most 4 ohm taps vs 8 ohm taps on OPTs.

Cheers.

[srosenberg]

i don't believe you are putting any of your gear at risk by trying different taps - try them both and see which one sounds best to you.  as noted already, the frequency extremes will be most audibly affected.

when in doubt, you could always call your amp / speaker companies to confirm this will not damage your gear.

[Steve]

i don't believe you are putting any of your gear at risk by trying different taps - try them both and see which one sounds best to you.  as noted already, the frequency extremes will be most audibly affected.

when in doubt, you could always call your amp / speaker companies to confirm this will not damage your gear.

Nice post S. I concur, most probably run the output tubes a little or more conservatively so probably not an issue which tap is used. That last ounce of power output does little in the way of perceived loudness, but can significantly shorten the life of an output tube. (There are a few output tubes that need to run quite hot, which is an exception.)

Cheers.

[srosenberg]

Nice post S. I concur, most probably run the output tubes a little or more conservatively so probably not an issue which tap is used. That last ounce of power output does little in the way of perceived loudness, but can significantly shorten the life of an output tube. (There are a few output tubes that need to run quite hot, which is an exception.)

Cheers.

Steve, my speakers are 4 ohm (nominal) and my amps have 8, 4, and 2 ohm taps.  both the amp and speaker manufacturer confirmed that any of the taps would be safe, and to defer to my ears.  to me, the 4 ohm and 2 ohm taps sounded best.  are you saying using the 2 ohm tap would result in longer life on the output tubes?