3 8ohm cabs in series/paralell

[Ron Berenato]

I'm curious, I have a Hartke LH500 and run it to two 8 ohm Peavey 210 cabs. I'm assuming this is parallel since I'm running amp output to speaker input. If I were to daisy chain a third cabinet off of one of these cabs (series?) would I cause damage to the amp at 2.667 ohms? I have three 210 cabs and just want to know if I COULD do it if a situation called for more volume. Not that I really want to do it but I'd like to know if I could without blowing up the head. My rational mind tells me to just buy another amp to push the additional speakers but . .

And YES I did Google this and looked for an older thread regarding this subject and found nothing to help me understand this.

 

[Redbrangus]

Your amp is rated for rated for a load no lower than 4Ω, so there's no practical way to connect more than two 8Ω speaker cabs. Yes, you could damage the amp.

 

[WayneP]

Yes, you’re asking for trouble doing that. Hopefully the LH550 has internal protection to shut it down down before frying, but of course that would be inconvenient in the middle of a gig. Your best bet would be a separate amp for the third speaker, fed a signal from the LH500’s EFX send jack.

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Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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[agedhorse]

Not a good idea, and protection circuits are not perfect.

 

[Ron Berenato]

Thank you. Ya'll are awesome.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Is the third 2x10 the same model as your two Peaveys? You could be running into more issues with volume if it's mismatched (or not, just depends).

Are you looking to do a clean/dirty dual amp setup? If you simply want more volume for your current rig, you'd probably do better saving the money spent on another amp and just get a louder cab. Just a suggestion, but it could greatly simplify things for future expansion.

 

[Ron Berenato]

For outdoor gigs I prefer a larger cabinet. My first option was to purchase a 215 cab for that purpose but if I could make do with cabinets on hand I would. I realize now this is NOT an option. THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[primusfan1989]

would I cause damage to the amp at 2.667 ohms

If you amp say "4ohm min" I would say yes it is likely you'd cause damage

 

[WRM]

You might find that 500W into two (2) X 210s is "enough", but you'll have to try it to find out. It could also be a good excuse to buy the 215 you want, or a higher-power 2-Ohm capable head!...

 

[HolmeBass]

Series and parallel is tricky. You might think if you ran your amp's output to one cabinet, and then ran from the other jack on that cab to a 2nd cabinet, that it would be series.

But you would be wrong. In all cases I have seen, the speaker outputs on amps, and the jack plates on speaker cabinets are wired such that all connections are in parallel.

To actually run cabinets in series (which doesn't get you what you hope for, if you fiddle w/ the math you can see why) you need a special cable, which AFAIK one usually must make it themselves.

But yeah, you can only run two 8 Ohm speaker cabinets off of that amp safely.

 

[Michedelic]

I'm curious, I have a Hartke LH500 and run it to two 8 ohm Peavey 210 cabs. I'm assuming this is parallel since I'm running amp output to speaker input. If I were to daisy chain a third cabinet off of one of these cabs (series?) would I cause damage to the amp at 2.667 ohms? I have three 210 cabs and just want to know if I COULD do it if a situation called for more volume. Not that I really want to do it but I'd like to know if I could without blowing up the head. My rational mind tells me to just buy another amp to push the additional speakers but . .

And YES I did Google this and looked for an older thread regarding this subject and found nothing to help me understand this.

Are you stacking your two 2x10’s vertically? That might improve your perception of “loudness”.

 

[Ron Berenato]

Are you stacking your two 2x10’s vertically? That might improve your perception of “loudness”.

Vertically always. A trick I learned here on TB. I also have some wedges placed under the cabs to tilt them up so my sound isn't down around the knees.

 

[dbase]

 

[bottomzone]

That's a cool-looking Schecter!

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I'm curious, I have a Hartke LH500 and run it to two 8 ohm Peavey 210 cabs. I'm assuming this is parallel since I'm running amp output to speaker input. If I were to daisy chain a third cabinet off of one of these cabs (series?) would I cause damage to the amp at 2.667 ohms? I have three 210 cabs and just want to know if I COULD do it if a situation called for more volume. Not that I really want to do it but I'd like to know if I could without blowing up the head. My rational mind tells me to just buy another amp to push the additional speakers but . .

And YES I did Google this and looked for an older thread regarding this subject and found nothing to help me understand this.

All connections are in parallel. No matter how you run it.

Yes, you'll damage your amp

 

[Bassamatic]

You will let the magic smoke out and the amp will die.

2x10 are really not enough if you need that kind of power. More cone area will get you much more loudness than more watts. Just get a larger cab.

 

[Pulverizor]

Upgrade to the LH1000, it'll run up to four 8ohm cabs and only 4kg heavier.