help with impedance missmatch

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hebaton
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:50 pm
Location: Saint Paulin Canada

help with impedance missmatch

Post by hebaton »

I have an amp with a 4K primary OT running 6L6s. There is a 4 ohm and an 8 ohm tap.

If I run 6v6s ( JJs ) in the amp, which way do I need to missnatch the load ?

Thanks
WiderGates
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:31 pm
Location: Germany

Re: help with impedance missmatch

Post by WiderGates »

Hello,
8 ohm speaker to 4 ohm tap or
16 ohm speaker to 8 ohm tap.
Hawadääre
Dieter
cdemike
Posts: 337
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2023 5:27 pm
Location: Alabama

Re: help with impedance missmatch

Post by cdemike »

Need more information to say for certain. Is the amp fixed or cathode biased? What's your B+? Is it operating in class AB1? Based on a review of the 6L6 datasheet I'd assume you're running with fixed bias in class AB1 with B+ around 350V based on the primary impedance being 4k. If that were true, then under similar conditions Ra-a for 6V6 would be roughly 2x higher, meaning you'd want to double the speaker size compared to what you'd use for 6L6's (e.g., use an 8 ohm load using the 4 ohm tap and 16 ohm load when using the 8 ohm tap). But for your OT's sake, I'd want to know more about the operating conditions.
hebaton
Posts: 317
Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:50 pm
Location: Saint Paulin Canada

Re: help with impedance missmatch

Post by hebaton »

WiderGates wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2025 10:18 am Hello,
8 ohm speaker to 4 ohm tap or
16 ohm speaker to 8 ohm tap.
Thank you sir !
R.G.
Posts: 1579
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2014 9:01 pm

Re: help with impedance missmatch

Post by R.G. »

Transformers don't have impedances - transformers have ratios.

Dieter is right - put a higher impedance on as the secondary load, and a higher impedance appears on the primary.

There's another layer of this line of thinking, but the double-the-load idea will get you going.
"It's not what we don't know that gets us in trouble. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so"
Mark Twain
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