Plate dissipation vs. Power output at speaker

Mismatching speaker loads reduces power to the load. There's no way around this.

 

Try this: Electron-Tube Circuits

Go to Chapter 9 (Untuned Power Amplifiers). Excellent description of exactly how power to the load (vs. dissipated in the plates) is worked out. Not nearly as technically dense as RDH4.

Edit: Look at figure 9-2. It's a graph of the equation right above it. This is for a triode, but still gets the idea across. The salient point is that maximum power transfer is achieved only when the plate and load resistance is equal.

 

I know that the power output transformer works, that as the current collapses on the negative going side of the wave, it induces a postive going on the other side.

This is why there is no "cheating" the trafo, getting something for nothing...it is only optimal when the impedance matches for effective transfer.

BUT...I had a big question rolling around in my empty brain for a while now, trying to decide and theorize on what the answer could be...

I was wondering this, does it make any difference which of the settings you choose while they match?

But this I mean, if you have a selectable impedance cabinet AND amp, go extreme and say you can either set both cabinet and amp to 4 ohm impedance, or 16 ohm impedance.

Is one of those inherently a little better than the other, or is it exactly the same? Do the speakers work any better/worse/harder or the amp when it is one or the other?

 

Thanks for the tip. Interesting stuff.