Premier 11 and impedance

From tubes to solid state.
Post Reply
User avatar
Wildcat
Master
Master
Posts: 296
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:02 pm
Contact:

Premier 11 and impedance

Post by Wildcat »

I may have a dilemma to work through. I picked up a Premier 11 just over a week ago and have been getting used to it. I have a complete new set of tubes coming from Upscale Audio, as the tubes are of unknown age (I am the third owner--the second owner bought it from a friend but had no idea about the age of the tubes).

I realized I have two impedance questions going through my mind. First, I could assume that this Premier 11 came from the factory in its default 4-ohm impedance setting. But, there is no way of knowing without looking inside and checking the wiring.

I am temporarily driving some Vandersteen 2CEs. The specs on the current model 2CE Signature IIs indicate a 7 ohm nominal impedance, with a 4 ohm minimum. I asked the company what impedance the 2CE had, and I got a reply back from "the man" himself, saying to try these on either an 8- or 4-ohm tap on the power amp to see what sounds best. (Unfortunately, changing the impedance is not so simple!)

Am I worrying too much about this?

My end game is to get either my own refurbished Martin Logan speakers into the system, or buy a newer used pair, and these are known to dip into lower impedances. So ideally I would keep the amp at a 4-ohm output. (But of course, that also means I probably should check the amp anyway to see what it is currently wired for, in case the owner ordered it as an 8-ohm output.)
C-J PV-14L/C-J Premier 11/Martin Logan Spires/PS Audio DirectStream Jr./PS Audio AirLens
Technics SL-1210G/Nagaoka MP500/Dynavector XX2 Mk. II/SweetVinyl SugarCube/C-J EV-1
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 4556
Joined: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:50 pm
Location: New Hampshire, USA
Contact:

Re: Premier 11 and impedance

Post by admin »

Congrats on Premier 11. As I understand it, there is no problem using an 4 ohm amp with an 8 ohm speaker, but not the other way around, so you probably would want to know the impedance setting of the amp before connecting it to a less than 8 ohm speaker. However, this does not seem to be a problem with your Vandersteen's if they are rated down to 4 ohm. We have the Premier 11 wiring diagrams in out schematic database so I would take a look at those. You can directly measure the impedance of the amp, but I do believe that requires a little bit of a testing setup, including the need for an oscilloscope. I think checking the wiring would be easier.
-admin
Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
User avatar
Wildcat
Master
Master
Posts: 296
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 10:02 pm
Contact:

Re: Premier 11 and impedance

Post by Wildcat »

Forgot to say "Thanks" on your post! I agree--opening it up to check the wiring is the best way to check impedance. I think I downloaded that wiring schematic a year or two before getting my Premier 11, in fact. ;)
C-J PV-14L/C-J Premier 11/Martin Logan Spires/PS Audio DirectStream Jr./PS Audio AirLens
Technics SL-1210G/Nagaoka MP500/Dynavector XX2 Mk. II/SweetVinyl SugarCube/C-J EV-1
Post Reply