2 amps into 2x10" cab? can be done?

[crguti]

Ashdown ABM 500 & Hartke LH-500 into Ashdown ABM 210T?

The output of each amp is:
500watts/4ohms
350watts/8ohms
~200watts/16ohms
The Ashdown cab is wired as 300watts/8ohms... I guess they are 2x16 ohms wired in parallel. So if it is so, each speaker is rated as 150watts/16ohms speaker.
In resume, I will have 2 amps of 200watts/16ohms connected to a respective speaker of 150 watts/16ohms.
Is it safe to do this? for the kind of venues we play, it is not needed more cabs.
thanks in advance.

[mustbampeg]

Why would you want to? Just run one amp, one cab. Problem solved.

Randy

[crguti]

Actually I'm using only the Ashdown amp with the cab. I'd like to get the Hartke as a backup amp, but I'm thinking it'd be cool to run both at the the time.

[nashvillebill]

It might look cool, but it's not practical (I can think of a couple of technical difficulties, particularly how to ensure both amps are in phase).

Run one amp into that cab.

[crguti]

Originally Posted by nashvillebill

how to ensure both amps are in phase

if they are not in phase, I can swap the wires of one of the speakers, right?

[Bassamatic]

You CANNOT connect the outputs of 2 amps together, if that is what you are saying. Instant Ka-Blooie and the smoke gets out.

Are you talking about wiring one amp to each driver independently? Why? There is no advantage. Needless complication and possible phase problems.

One amp to your cab is best - you have nothing possible to gain using 2 and the amps are each more powerful than the cab can take.

AND - it may be 2 x 4 Ohms drivers in series.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by crguti

if they are not in phase, I can swap the wires of one of the speakers, right?

You could do this, but (and I am not a speaker designer, so take this with a pinch of salt) your speakers should be acoustically isolated from each other ie. in individual airtight compartments. In any case the result may still cause your amps to work against each other and your volume and tone will be negatively affected.

Since your amps already can put out more than 300W into the cab - each - there is no reason to plug both in.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by crguti

I'm thinking it'd be cool to run both at the the time.

Cool, no. Hot, yes, as the amps fry each other into oblivion. And since said 210 probably can't actually make use of more than 150 watts before the drivers reach their excursion limit there's no point to it anyway.

[intercept]

Given that you're looking for more sound, don't connect both amps to the same cabinet. If you did, pretty soon you'd have no sound, and possibly smoke. Certainly blown fuses.

The best way to get more sound is to increase the speaker area, not increase the watts. If you had a cabinet that could handle 1000 watts, if driven to max by a 1000 watt amp it would only be twice as loud than when it was driven at 100 watts etc as in the table below.

Power : Loudness
1w : 1
10w : 2
100w : 4
1000w : 8
etc

Adding speakers gives a more linear increase, helped by the fact that amplifiers deliver more power as the speaker impedance decreases. Most amplifiers are only happy down to 4 ohms, but a few can drive a 2 ohm load. Running at 2 ohms isn't normally a good idea though, because the resistance of the speaker cable then starts to dissipate a more significant proportion of the power.

[stingraysvt]

You can get a head switcher

Tonebone Headbone amp head switcher - features and specifications

I'd read up and make sure you can run that much power into it beforehand

You're just asking for trouble doing both at the same time, unless it was some sort of dual mono/ Stereo cab, kinda like some 810 cabs have 2 inputs one for the top 410 and one for the bottom. With your 210 I doubt it, the effect would be fairly minimal. Plus at 16 ohms, your amp wouldn't be running the wattage to really do anything.

If you're trying to blend Characteristics/Power from one to the next you can jump the preamp from the one that sounds better to the one with more power , in the case of failure you'll have the alternate there and ready to go with just a few quick patches.

You'll get the best results with one head into one cab

[groooooove]

if you really want the 2-head thing, get a second cab.


but, it wont sound good. no matter what the two heads are, all amplifiers produce different sounds. the way any amp shapes your sound, is to give you your finished sound- with your subs, lows, low mid, mid, high mid, highs. even if you can barely tell the difference between two amps- running them both at the same time, your sound will be crappy- because the two sets of frequencies side by side wont sound good, because youd be mixing two things that arent the same.. the low end will tend to be boomy no matter what.. i've done it before, so im talking from experience. you can try and isolate frequencies.. like get mids from one and lows from the other- but without the exact right setup, crossovers, and all that, that type of thing wont work either.

[crguti]

^ this makes sense. Thanks.