I thought I should know this, but I don't. lets say I have a choice of two 300w 8ohm 12" cabs would the power handling capacity be the same as a 600w 4ohm 2-12" cab? assuming normal 1/4" speaker cables coming out from each of the two outputs on my SWR mono 350 amp? I'm assuming that with standard speaker cables whether two from the amp, one to each cab OR one from amp to cab1 and cable from cab1 to cab2, still both result in a two cab parallel connection thus lowering the load on the amp. What am I trying to say??? What cab situation would best maximize my volume potential? one higher wattage cab OR two cabs that add up to the same wattage and load?? Can I just imagine a 4ohm 600w 410cab as two 8ohm 300w 210 cabs?? Does the amp see them the same?
Yup! Exactly the same thing. Can you elaborate on that. I'm curious as to why you would think that. I'm not having a go at you, just trying to guage perceptions.
I'm not sure where this started, but when I look at a cab that says 300w or less I somehow think that if I hook it up to a big amp like 800w into 4ohms, that the speaker can get easily damaged if amp is turned up past 300w total. I seem to think this even if I have two 300w speakers. so if I had three 300w speakers could I put 800w safely into them?? because the amp would treat them as 900w of speaker load?
That's right. Open up a 800 watt 4x10 for example and it will have 4 x 200 watt speakers in it. If you feed 800w into it, and if the speakers have the same nominal impedance, they will split the watts between them evenly, 200 watts each.
I know lots of people who do this ....BUT.... It's a common sense thing in the end. If you're feeding 1600w into an 800w cab, be aware that it is possible to damage the speakers through over excursion.
I understand the concern of pushing a cab beyond its rating, but I've always been underpowered and I believe I can hear the headroom of my amp get smaller and smaller as I play louder and louder and there is less "knob" left or the "limiter" light starts blinking and I think "darn, need more power! scotty!" I assume with abundant power things can get really loud before speaker ratings are reached? or am I fooling myself? For example with two GS-112's 300w 8ohm each = 600w at 4 ohm and I'm pushing 800 watts into them would I run out of headroom first or the limit of the cab first?
