speaker volume question.

[joeturbodiesel@]

Instead of explaining the whole situation, I am going to ask individual questions as the thread progresses.

If you had a 400 watt speaker at a certain volume from an amp, and you then plugged it in to a similar speaker with 800 watt capacity, would it have the same volume coming out of it?

[seamonkey]

Not enough information. Information you gave has no bearing on the loudness.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by seamonkey

Not enough information. Information you gave has no bearing on the loudness.

+1. There is no direct relationship between watts and decibels. The power rating of a speaker only tells you what it will take before the voice coil burns out, and on the whole that alone is hardly worth knowing.

[joeturbodiesel@]

ok,..... is the only difference between a 400 watt 410 speaker cab and an 800 watt 410speaker cab the power it can handle or do they have a different volume when your amp is set at the same setting?
I.E. your playing through your amp plugged in to the 410 400 watt then unplug from that cab and plug into the 800 watt 410. This is the preface for my next series of questions.

[iiipopes]

Efficiency. That will tell you how loud a speaker will get in dB with a given power input. This is a discrete spec that is completely different from power handling, frequency response, impedance, or any other spec. It is usually measured as, "X dB @ 1 meter on axis," meaning how loud in decibels the speaker will be when measured by a microphone placed one meter directly in front of the speaker pointing directly at the center of the voice coil. Even that has its limitations, because all speakers have variations in response depending on the frequency(ies) used, the type of cabinet and the porting (if any), and other variables.

Now, the average lay person (read: audience member) cannot hear a difference less than 3dB, and most speaker manufacturers of mainstream retail products routinely design their cabs to have a low end roll off to prevent excessive speaker excursion and therefore warranty claims for blown speakers.

That, and we could go on and on ad infinitum ad nauseam about perceived loudness of a cab. So, I don't mean to be rude, just technical: the opening statement does not have an answer, or if it does, the answer is, "it depends."

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by joeturbodiesel@

ok,..... is the only difference between a 400 watt 410 speaker cab and an 800 watt 410speaker cab the power it can handle or do they have a different volume when your amp is set at the same setting?
I.E. your playing through your amp plugged in to the 410 400 watt then unplug from that cab and plug into the 800 watt 410. This is the preface for my next series of questions.

All other things being equal, there will be no difference in volume. But there's a lot of other factors at play, so I'd give very low odds they'd be the same volume.

This will likely go a lot quicker if you told us the situation & your actual question.

[selftitled907]

My first guess would be NO simply because i cant imagine that the 800w cab has the same ohm rating as the 400w cab. i currently have a 4ohm 410 and its WAY louder than any 8ohm cab i put under the same head with the same settings. but again as stated before, watts dont have any direct relation to dB's.

and as usual i could be COMPLETLY wrong on this too....

[joeturbodiesel@]

Im trying to choose between buying an SWR working pro 400 4 ohm and a golight 410 which is 800 watts and also 4 ohm. Need to know if there is any difference before I make an expensive mistake.

[selftitled907]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

This will likely go a lot quicker if you told us the situation & your actual question.

+1
to many variables....and really, i dont understand why/when you would actually need to do this or need to know this. (no offence intended with this response)

[selftitled907]

you will get seriouse vol. out of a 4ohm SWR cab....thats what i currently use. but with that set up your looking at....your going to get more vol than you will ever need. i say go for it if your ok lugging around there heavy cabs.

cheers and welcome to the SWR club!

[joeturbodiesel@]

I just dont know if the 800 watt cab will be too much and if it will or will not produce less or more volume when compared to the working pro 400 watt cab. Also, the golight wieghs like half of the working pro. So, if i can push the golight 800 with out losing volume then it wont be heavy at all. By the way Selftitled907, Say hi to Sara for me!

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by joeturbodiesel@

do they have a different volume when your amp is set at the same setting?

If the only difference is the power rating they do not.

Im trying to choose between buying an SWR working pro 400 4 ohm and a golight 410 which is 800 watts and also 4 ohm. Need to know if there is any difference before I make an expensive mistake.

If there is any difference the power rating won't tell you. What would tell you is SPL charts and the driver displacement of the two. That information is not available, so the only way to know is to try them both, side by side, or find someone who has done so.

[lbwdog]

Originally Posted by joeturbodiesel@

ok,..... is the only difference between a 400 watt 410 speaker cab and an 800 watt 410speaker cab the power it can handle or do they have a different volume when your amp is set at the same setting?
I.E. your playing through your amp plugged in to the 410 400 watt then unplug from that cab and plug into the 800 watt 410. This is the preface for my next series of questions.

As far as watts go.....yes.

Now forget about watts. One cab could be louder, softer, or the same volume, depending on the sensitivity of the loudspeakers, and the design of that particular cab.

[seamonkey]

Originally Posted by joeturbodiesel@

Im trying to choose between buying an SWR working pro 400 4 ohm and a golight 410 which is 800 watts and also 4 ohm. Need to know if there is any difference before I make an expensive mistake.

There are no accurate specs available for bass cabinets.

Your best bet it to buy from a store where you can try it for 30 days in real life.

[selftitled907]

nothing wrong with having to much....you just might have to turn down. My amp currently makes 600w available to my 800w cab....and i have NEVER used all 600w and my volume has never gone past 11 o'clock even live. but its fun knowing that i could drownd out everyone else (even my drummer) if i decided to crank it.

so yes....its will probally be TOO much altogether....but if you put that head on the 400watt 4ohm cab....you could potentially do dmg to it when that amp at 4ohms makes up to 700w available. the 800w cab will be able to handle all the volume you need without that risk.

[joeturbodiesel@]

Well ,here is the monkey wrench, I want to buy the golight 410 800 watt 4 ohm and power it on one channel of my hartke HA 5000 which is 250 watts at 4 ohms on that channel and plug my ampeg B-15E 200 watt 8 ohm cab on the other independent channel and use them set up like that until I can afford a golight 15 and the swr 750x amp. What do yall think of that?

[Rick Auricchio]

Mixing cabinets may sound good or it may not. Now you're into a completely different subject.

The wattage rating of a cab tells you as much about its tone and loudness as its weight does.

[Bass_Pounder]

Why would you want to mix a 4X10 with a 1X15

Bad combo

[joeturbodiesel@]

I like the way a 410 sounds and I play a 5 string and want the capacity of the 15 to catch the low freequencies from the B string, I see alot of people use 410 and 15 together. Is that wrong?

[selftitled907]

Just like Rick stated above....mixing amps and cabs is something completly different. And as you see in my sig. i mix Genz amp with SWR cab....i just so happen to LOVE the sound i get. but it might not be the same with your situation. your talking about mixing hartke/ampeg/swr all together. who knows you might do that and never turn back...and you might hate everything about it. really if any of this gear is somewhere you can try it before you buy it i would strongly suggest it.