"Pooh Bear" wrote in message
...
All the hi-fi speakers I've met have also been 8 ohm. Maybe the drive to
low
cost pretty boxes has resulted in more use of lower impedance types ?

The biggest reason for the shift to 4 ohm IMO, is the wide spread use of 2
small bass/mid drivers per box instead of one larger one.
Mostly they wire two 8 ohm drivers in parallel, and get a nominal 4 ohm box.
The real impedance varies with frequency as always.
Very few manufacturers make 16 ohm drivers any more, so using two of those
in parallel is not a viable option to most box builders.
Also the fact that many amplifiers can deliver more power into 4 ohms than
8, is a benefit in most cases.

TonyP.