On 03/09/05 02:45 ET, Ernie Bornn-Gilman said...
Unfortunately, we do not know what modern amps
will do at 4 ohms. If their power supplies and
heat sinks were really beefy, they would put out
exactly twice the power at 4 ohms as at 8 ohms.
Some of the early RMS-rated amps did exactly
that. But some would put out, say, 50 watts at
8 ohms and 75 watts at 4 ohms, indicating that
there was some lack in their power supplies or
that the heat generated in the amp with a 4 ohm
load would not sustain more than 75 watts. Today,
who knows? It is a pretty safe bet that they
will put out a bit LESS at 4 ohms than at 8 ohms,
and I am being conservative; they will probably
put out more. But since they are not measured
that way, we cannot know.
Do US reviewers not test them on various loads?
Check out
this site for some comprehensive test data.