A question regarding wiring...

[Stevious G]

Okay. First of all, I'm going to let the cat out of the bag; I'm wiring up a guitar cabinet.

Yeah.

But what can I say? I'm a bass player. I didn't know where else to go!

So, here's the thing; I'm just about done building a 4x12 Bill Fitzmaurice XF cabinet, and I'm loading it with Eminence Tonkerlite 8 ohm neodymium cones.

I'm going to be powering it with a Line 6 Spider Valve HD Mk II head. That's Line 6's all-tube pre AND power amp offering, to those unfamilliar.

Now, I WAS just going to run it in series-paralell, as that seems par for the course, but I kinda realized, hey, these cones can handle 125 watts apiece.

The amp has three different connection options




A single jack, 16 ohm speaker section,

A double jack, 16 ohm pair OR 8 ohm single section,

A double jack, 8 ohm pair OR 4 ohm single section.


So, what I'm wondering is; would I be better off wiring the cabinet as a standard, series-paralell, 8 ohm circuit, or should I wire it up as though it's two 2x12 cabinets, at 16 ohms a piece, and run it in stereo?

I'm quite new to the whole cabinet-building thing, and don't know all that much about the real ins and outs of amp circuitry, so I really have no clue why either would be better than the other.

Would one option be louder than the other?
Would one be better for the amp in the long run?
Would it make any difference whatsoever?

Thanks for any help!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

It doesn't make a difference other than if you were to wire it as stereo you'd need to use two speaker cables rather than one. There is a downside, but that is only if you want to add another cab at a later date.
If you were running a single 16 ohm cab, you could add another at a later date. If you are running them as two 8 ohm cabs, you're stuck with the 4 ohm load (unless to want to start adding things in series, and you'd just be introducing more of a mess of external wires than is needed).

All that would be changing there is you'd be using the connections inside the amp to make it parallel as opposed to the wiring in the cab being parallel between the two 2x12s.

They would be equal in volume
No wear on the amp other than you'd be using two sockets instead of one for the output.
No difference at all, other than what I mentioned at first.

[Stevious G]

And that is, effectively, what I expected. I was just hoping for a second opinion. Thank you!