philips amp 800 ohm speakers

[sillyoldtwit]

i recently picked up an old amp a philips ag 9015 and have left it in for a service but i have been told that i can only use 800 ohm speakers with it. Will it damage the amp if i use standard speakers ?
I'm not technically minded but was wondering if there is some way of converting the signal to 8 ohms.😡

 

[Mooly]

It appears to be specified for 8 ohm speakers and looks to have a socket for such.

Is it like this ?

 

[sillyoldtwit]

My amp only has one speaker option of 800 ohms .......

 

[Mooly]

No 8 ohm socket you mean... hmmm. Now (and I always say this 🙂) I'm no expert on valve gear but if that's the case then it sounds as though your version lacks a suitable output transformer to match an 8 ohm speaker to the internal amplifier. So as it stands it sounds as though 800 ohm loading is the only option. There just wouldn't be enough current and voltage swing available to drive 8 ohm from an 800 ohm output.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I on this one will chime in with more info...

 

[DrBoar]

The idea of the 800 ohm output was to get rid of the expensive output transformers of the tube amps. So they absolutly need 800 ohm speakers. You could get two transformers hooked up but as they are ad hoc and integrated into the design do not expect the best performance.