creating a new setup

[Peccavi]

i am about to buy 2 acme cabs and my question is 4ohm or 8ohm? i am powering them with a carvin dcm2000 and a eden navigator preamp. i play death metal so i play alot of underground clubs with bad pa's so i need to be loud. most of the time i am on my own no mic through pa. let me know what's my best bet.

 

[Trevorus]

Well, the dcm's can handle 4 ohms per side easily. So go with those. Just be sure that the wattage doesn't kill the cab. Just remember that if you change your setup(i.e. to a head unit), it'll be harder to use both cabs, due to their combined load of only 2 ohms. But if you get two 8 ohm cabs, you can run the amp bridged into them. Their combined load will be 4 ohms. Which will be okay for running that amp in bridged mode. I guess, it depends on how you want to do it. For around a hundred person gigs, either would be fine. And, either way, a 2000 watt amp will be fine for almost anything.

 

[Kindness]

I have a pair of 4-ohm ACME B-2's powered by a DCM2000. No complaints. Plenty of power, plenty of volume. (However, I do not play death metal! I'd be a lot cooler if I did.)

 

[Peccavi]

thanks alot i was thinking about 4ohm cabs but wasn't to sure. but i am ordering one a time, in the mean time i am probably going to use a 4ohm and my trace elliot 8ohm which bring a new question. is it bad to play with one 4ohm and one 8ohm?

 

[kennyhoe]

If you play with one 4-ohm, and one 8-ohm, the 4 ohm would receive more power than the 8-ohm would, assuming you are running it stereo through the DCM 2000. You can get two 8-ohm cabs, and bridge the DCM 2000 through both cabs, so you have maximum headroom. From what I've heard, Acme cabs are extremely power hungry.

 

[oddio]

I chose the 4-ohm Acmes (and currently run 4 of them). I couldn't access the specs on the Carvin site, but expect that you would get roughly the same amount of power driving a 2-ohm load (2 0f the 4-ohm cabs) from a single channel of your amp as you would driving a 4 ohm load (2 of the 8-ohm cabs) in bridged mode.

 

[rockindoc]

The 4ohm cabs might be a little more flexible in your situation. 700W per channel into each B2 is plenty. Remember the break-in period!

With the 8 ohm cabs you'd get 425W per channel (not enough IMO), or 1000W per cab (more than you need) if you bridged.

With 4ohm cabs you also have the option of running two B2s on one channel (with each cab getting 500W), and adding another cab(s) on channel two.

 

[rockindoc]

is it bad to play with one 4ohm and one 8ohm?

It's ok to do this. The 4ohm cab WILL get more power than the 8ohm cab. But, since the Acme's sensitivity is probably lower than the Trace's, this arrangement might actually be more beneficial.

 

[Peccavi]

thanks alot guys you responces are very much appreciated.