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description: Audio advice and discussions with audiophiles and professionals. Free discussion forums, open to all and frequented by industry experts. Ask questions and get advice on stereos, speakers, hi-end amplifiers, pre-amps, home theater, tube hi-fi, turntables, vinyl, tweaks, music, films, video, DVDs and more.
items: Tube amp output impedance and ZMAX
items: Re: Tube amp output impedance and ZMAX

Tube amp output impedance and ZMAX
type: item
description: Sorry Wayne but my pea brain can't seem to hold this in my head. My Laurel 300B amps have transformer taps for 4, 8 and 16 ohm, which I take to be choices for output impedance. I have Klipschorns, as you may remember, and this talk about ZMAX has me worried. I don't know the specs on the K33, but if the bass was a little flubby, what would be the right direction to take the tap, from 8 to 4 or from 8 to 16?
creator: Randy Bey
date: 2001-08-23T20:55:31-00:00

Re: Tube amp output impedance and ZMAX
type: item
description: Try them both. I'm sure that a high z-max will only reduce the bass output.
creator: steve f
date: 2001-08-23T23:13:36-00:00

Re: Tube amp output impedance and ZMAX
type: item
description: Output impedance drops when step-down ratio is greater. Said another way, damping is higher when the step down ratio is greater. However, I'm not sure that transfer response to a speaker with high Zmax will be significantly improved when output impedance is reduced by just a small amount. Damping of the peaks would improve a little bit, but at the expense of overall efficiency. I'm not sure the tradeoff would be worth it. That said, I don't think you should worry about the Klipschorns. Horn speakers have impedance fluxuations, as all loudspeakers do, and horns do have more peaks, but they are usually smaller in amplitude than some other loudspeaker types.
creator: Wayne Parham
date: 2001-08-24T03:46:01-00:00