Cabinet Wattage

[GatorBass]

Should you buy a cabinet with a power rating that exceeds the wattage you would be putting in it. Heres the deal my Sm400s puts out 500 watts at 4 ohms. The cab I am looking at is rated at 500 watts. Am I going to be at risk of blowing it out, or should I be looking at a cab that it rated at 600+ watts? My last cab lasted quite a while, but recently I have blown out two cones in 6 months. I am getting tired of re-coning, and would like a cab with a tweeter. What do you all think?

 

[Vakmere]

The rig you have now is a good match at 4 ohms if the cabinet is also 4 ohm. If the cab youre looking at is 8 ohms there will be nothing to worry about other than your head only being able to use 2/3 of its rated wattage. Never have a cabinet(s) that exceeds the wattage of your head. To figure out the total impedance of two or more cabinets of equal value hooked up in parallel, divide the impedance of one cabinet by the number of cabinets:

impedance of one cabinet / number of cabinets = total impedance

Let's say the enclosure you own is 8 Ohms and the cabinet you borrowed is 8 Ohms. The formula is 8 / 2 = 4, so the total impedance will be 4 Ohms. Likewise, if you had four 8 Ohm enclosures, the total impedance would be 2 Ohms ( 8 / 4 = 2). Just think of the 4 Ohm cabinet as two 8 Ohm cabinets.

 

[badgrandad]

You might get all the typical discussion about wattage and over-powering vs under-powering, but the simple answer is that if you are blowing speakers and your equipment is otherwise in good condition, you are in all likelyhood trying to get too much volume out of the speaker you have.

Even if you had a 1x12 or 1x15 or even 2x10 cab rated at 1000 watts, you can blow a cone by trying to get too much volume (the low frequency part usually is the killer) and you get a mechanical failure. You can get e thermal failure by too much wattage but I would guess this is by far the rarer cause of speaker damage.

Tweeters are suceptable to too much wattage.
Get more speakers to get more volume.

 

[Lowtonejoe]

Should you buy a cabinet with a power rating that exceeds the wattage you would be putting in it. Heres the deal my Sm400s puts out 500 watts at 4 ohms. The cab I am looking at is rated at 500 watts. Am I going to be at risk of blowing it out, or should I be looking at a cab that it rated at 600+ watts? My last cab lasted quite a while, but recently I have blown out two cones in 6 months. I am getting tired of re-coning, and would like a cab with a tweeter. What do you all think?

Matching cabs to amps is significantly less important that making sure your equipment does the job adequately.

Learn to listen to your equipment. If it sounds like your amp is clipping or your speakers are farting then turn down.

If you turn down and aren't loud enough, then you need different equipment.

If your amp was clipping, get a more powerful amp.

If your speaker was farting, get a better cab.

I have used my rack (2400w) to power cabs from 200w to 700w with no problems.

I have used a 100w amp to power cabs from 200w to 700w with no problems.

It's about using what you have intelligently.

Uh...what was the question?

Oh yeah, look for a cab that sounds good and does the job. Tone is about much more than matching (or not matching) amps to cabs.

Hope I was clear.



Joe.

 

[PSPookie]

. Never have a cabinet(s) that exceeds the wattage of your head.

What are you basing this statement on?

There is zero inherent danger in having a cabs rated for more wattage than your head

A cab rated at 500W RMS at 4 ohms sounds like a pretty good match for a head that is rated at 500W RMS at 4 ohms, though this may not tell the full story. There are other important factors to consider; including, but not limited to: effeciency, voicing, internal volume, speaker surface area, and excursion.

 

[GatorBass]

The cab I am looking at matching this head with is an Ampeg SVT410HLF . I have looked and liked the eden 410XLT, but like the idea of the ampeg cab since the one it is replacing was a sealed box with 4 SVT fridge speakers. I think part of the reason the old cones blew was due to age. From what I have heard once one goes they are all likely to go. It has been a good cab, I think it may be time to lay it to rest.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Never have a cabinet(s) that exceeds the wattage of your head.

Sorry, but that is not good advice. There is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with doing this.

 

[GatorBass]

Anyone else have any input?

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Anyone else have any input?

Read the FAQ.

 

[Kelly Lee]

Read the FAQ.

/thread