[warnerwh]

I've ready many times a speaker is an easy load that is purely resistive or it may be a more difficult load because of the impedance and "phase angle".  I don't understand what phase angle means and why it along with the lower impedance makes it a more difficult load for the amplifier.

This has bugged me for years. Please explain this paying close attention to semantics so even a retard can understand!  I still can't even recite ohms law.

Thank You

[art]

Phase angle refers to the relationship of the voltage to the current in an AC signal. Unless the load is 100% resistive, there will be a phase difference between the two.

Without a lot of technical gibberish............high phase angles affect the amp dissipation in a undesirable way.

And then you can run into things like "Safe Operating Area" (SOA, on power transistor data sheets) problems, which can also lead to transistor failure.

Unless you design amps for a living, you may be blessed that it is not something that will keep you awake at nights.

One of the reasons I like to build amps for Maggies. It makes life easier. Plus, I like the way that they sound.

Pat

[Double Ugly]

Unless you design amps for a living, you may be blessed that it is not something that will keep you awake at nights.

I know a certain speaker designer who's probably lost a few hours of sleep...

Well...the verdict is in - and it ain't perty.

The upshot is that making that change had a major effect on changing the electrical phase angle of the impedance. We're talking a huge negative value. That means a highly capacitive load at about 500Hz. To be specific for the "techies" out there, you can well imagine what a -56 degree phase angle will do to an amp - regardless of actual impedance magnitude.

[warnerwh]

Thank you guys for the info. Now at least I have an idea.