Hi John,
I kinda figured they most definitely released a revision. I think I’ll stick with the oem lower impedance. The revision doubles the amount of resistors to redistribute that damaging heat load. Increasing the overall inductance is likely counter productive to overall sound quality. So instead of the oem 3.75 ohm 40w 10% bundle. I’m going to try a single 4ohm 50w 5% ceramic spaced off on a homebrew breadboard. In theory that could be slightly lower in overall Z than the oem. Stepping up to 8 units is a large increase in inductance. I generally strive to keep parts counts to a minimum especially in signal paths.
Perhaps it would reflect better with tube amps with the higher Z. But that depends on your output xformers. Most will drive the lower Z without complaint granted they may run a tad hotter. The overall plan here is to bi-amp with sealed passive subs. So the stats won’t even see anything below 50hz to begin with. Which should have the added benefit of unloading the panels of large excursions. And in this case it’s the higher frequencys where they dive down. Which leads to a few questions. On these brilliance pots, how much noticable change occurs from say 1 o’clock to wide open? That seems to be a range of around 4 ohms down to .4 on the pot. So the manual states they bottom out at 3 ohms Z. I’m assuming that is with the pot set to maximum? I wonder where it would bottom with 3 ohms added on the pot? I’m assuming around 4.5ohms minimal Z.
Nevertheless I’ve got plenty to learn in the near future on operating these. And the manuals explaination of employing the EQ taps leaves plenty to be desired. At least it tells you one way how not to blow your amp. I can clearly see why they installed switches on the later models. As deciphering what little instructions lie in the manual is beyond normal human comprehension.
The parts should be here soon within a week. And with a little luck they may live to sing again.
DD