HOW MANY OHMS ARE YOUR SPEAKER CABINETS?

[David Jayne]

Greenboy's post should negate any "this is better than that" for whatever reason. I'm also sick of hearing all this, "I need less ohms to get more out of my amp" stuff. It's not needed.

In most cases, that might be true. But some of the micro amps react quite differently, 4 vs. 8 ohm loading. I have a MB TA501 that won't really cut it with an 8 ohm Goliath cab, but it slays with an identical 4 ohm cab. Significantly louder. Dunno why, but there it is.

 

[kojack]

8 ohm 1x15
8 ohm 2x10

Cheers,
Chuck

 

[oerk]

Either 2 8 ohm Hartke cabs (4x10 and 1x15) or 1 4 ohm Marshall cab (2x10).

My amp pretty much sucks with a 8 ohm load.

 

[Marko 1]

Two 4x10 - 8ohms cabs.

Fender Pros.

 

[Powman]

Markbass CMD 121H Combo = 8 Ohms
Traynor 112 = 8 Ohms

 

[Nashrakh]

Amp: Traynor YBA 200
Cab: 15"+8" in single enclosure, custom built, 8ohm

 

[Bassplayer_479]

2 - 16ohm 2x15s.

 

[DAcat]

If you're still thinking of voting on this poll -please do so in the next week...pretty even between 0wners of 8ohm, 4 ohm and a mix of at least one or more of each type of cab so far...its also suprising to me to see how many people(I have three cabs myself-did'nt know there were that many people like me ) have more than one or two cabs...Peace...DAcat

 

[John123z]

Plush 3x15 = 2.67 ohms
BFM Omni 10.5 1x8 = 8 ohms
Ashdown 1x15 = 8 ohms

 

[meatwad]

eight ohms

two 8 ohm Ampeg Classic 410HEN cabs

together = 4 ohms

 

[Tony G]

8 ohm Bergantino AE210
4 ohm Bergantino AE410

 

[DAcat]

Summation of poll Data: I'm going to close this poll for summation purposes.. but feel free to continue to respond to this thread. The percentage results on the poll are misleading or all the voters did'nt reply to the thead..in the 4 ohm cabs ( the slight winner)...when I went thru the thread and Pmed some members about ambiguous posts, TB members owned 76 4ohm cabs total with the following results...

Configuration of 4 ohm cabinet No./cabinets owned
110 2
210 14
410 14
610 3
810 9
112 2
212 8
412 2
115 7
215 8
3620 2
3080 1
1516 1
1218 1
Unknown 4
Total 76

On the poll results-the 2nd place vote-getter were the 8 ohm cabs -But they had the most individual cabs owned by totalling up the responses given on the posts( 124 cabs)!! See the results below...

8 ohm cab configuration No./cabs owned
1x8 3
110 7
210 24
410 17
610 1
112 4
212 4
412 1
115 30
215 2
118 3
TL606 1
TL505 1
15/6 2
15/8 1
9x5 1
4x8 1
Unknown 12
Total 124

As the poll results showed it was almost a three way tie with 1/3 of respondents owning both 8 ohm and 4ohm cabs ...and most respondents owned more than one cab inet in all 3 groups.
One interesting that can be drawn that even if most cabs owned are 8 ohm cabs which if the owner owned more than 1 cab...that may only represent 1/3 of owners( in this survey) these are the only group of owners that can get by with just Head that is 4 ohms stable to run at least two cabs at once...and if they wanted to run more than two cabs at once they'd need an amp capable of going to 2 ohms unles they had a Stereo power/Pre Rig or one of the newer rigs such as the GB Shuttle Max 12.0 with dual 600 watt 4ohm stable amps.
The other 2/3 of owners whom who owned 4 ohm or a mixture of 4 ohm and 8 ohm or other variations of different ohm cabs -again most of whom owned 2 or more cabs-are at an even worse disadvantage when desiring to play more than one cab at a time... because they have to have a 2 ohm stable amp and there definately are'nt as many of those out there ...and with the current push toward the microamps (and I've been told that its very difficult to design micro amps that can be stable at 2 ohms), there may be even fewer 2 ohm stable amps in the future to power these 4ohm combos or mix of 4 and 8 ohm cabs. For the time being -for this group-the larger heads that are 2ohm stabe or the Pre/Power amp method is likely the way to go, unless you want to try one of the newer Shuttle Max 12.0 or Hartke LH 1000 heads which may be able to handle your loads with one head-other wise you may need more than one head.
The other suprising stat for me was that the leading cab owned was the 8ohm 115 cab(30) which seems to have gotten really popular this year( sorry I don't have stats for which cab it was-but there sure has been a lot of interest generated by the Schroeder 15+... followed by the 8 ohm 2x10 cab(24), with a strong showing still for the 8 ohm 410 (17). There was'nt much suprising news really to me from the 4 ohm side- the 210 and 410 cabs leading with 14 eachthe 215 and 121 cabs with 8 each(Though I actually expected more 410s and more 212s)...and we're starting to see more of the 12/6 and tTL606 type cabs owned. Tber's seem to be individuals not afraid to be themselves and and go after what they want to give them thier sound no matter what the marketplace is pushing...though I can also see some the "gas"- effect present ...possibly with all the recent 115 purchases-though thats just my interpretation ... time will tell how may will still own those cabs 2 years from now...Peace...DACat

 

[greenboy]

TL606 is just a particular 15" full range cab plan that uses a shelf port. The same internal volume and tuning can easily be had using port tubes - or a different set of shelf dimensions.

As far as the conclusions you've drawn about where micro/mini heads are going in terms of 2-ohm capability, I'm sure taking that with a grain of salt. It's likely that the current generation is constrained by the modules available, and future modules could just as easily become more capable in handling lower impedance loads. The limitations of Now are not written in stone, and to make the modules more durable it's likely this will happen anyway.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

As far as the conclusions you've drawn about where micro/mini heads are going in terms of 2-ohm capability, I'm sure taking that with a grain of salt.

There is some basis in fact there. From an engineering standpoint it's easier, and more important cheaper, to parallel output devices for higher current delivery into a low impedance load than to series them for higher voltage output into a higher impedance load. That's why in the autosound industry, where current is more plentiful than voltage, 2 ohm loads are standard and 1 ohm loads not uncommon. OTOH since supply voltage is not an issue 8 ohms is the standard with 110v and 220v AC powered amps, and IMO an amp that can't hack it at 8 ohms is poorly engineered.

With a well engineered amp the difference at full power between an 8 and 4 ohm load is only 2dB, which isn't worth the restriction 4 ohms places on adding more cabs. But so long as the average consumer equates watts with output, and the industry capitalizes on that fact with inflated power ratings into ever decreasing loads, the flawed concept of running with as low an impedance load as the amp will allow is not going away.

 

[DAcat]

There is some basis in fact there. From an engineering standpoint it's easier, and more important cheaper, to parallel output devices for higher current delivery into a low impedance load than to series them for higher voltage output into a higher impedance load. That's why in the autosound industry, where current is more plentiful than voltage, 2 ohm loads are standard and 1 ohm loads not uncommon. OTOH since supply voltage is not an issue 8 ohms is the standard with 110v and 220v AC powered amps, and IMO an amp that can't hack it at 8 ohms is poorly engineered.

With a well engineered amp the difference at full power between an 8 and 4 ohm load is only 2dB, which isn't worth the restriction 4 ohms places on adding more cabs. But so long as the average consumer equates watts with output, and the industry capitalizes on that fact with inflated power ratings into ever decreasing loads, the flawed concept of running with as low an impedance load as the amp will allow is not going away.

Thanks for the response Bill. Can you tell me the difference at full power for an amp between an 8 ohm load and a 2 ohm load in dbs...Thanks...DAcat

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Thanks for the response Bill. Can you tell me the difference at full power for an amp between an 8 ohm load and a 2 ohm load in dbs...Thanks...DAcat

4dB would be a reasonable estimate. At low power halving the load impedance doubles the power output of the amp, so one would get 3dB from halving the load, 6dB from quartering the load. But amps don't deliver twice the power output into a halved load at full power; look at any amp specs and you see power increases closer to 70% additional per impedance halving at full power.
OTOH if you add a second cab and in so doing don't have to run at full power you'll get 6dB increase, so if you can't get what you need from one cab you'll have a lot better result adding a second than just trying to squeeze every watt out of a head.

 

[Infiltration12]

4 ohms:

Shroeder 410

Carvin 210


I rarely run them together though, since the schroeder is so much more powerful than the carvin so the carvin just limits my whole setup.

 

[Ebelow]

8 Ohm Mesa Powerhouse 4x10
8 Ohm Mesa Powerhouse 2x10

 

[D.A.R.K.]

4 ohm ear candy 2x12 bass bomb
4 ohm ear candy 2x12 ozlo sub

 

[DAcat]

4dB would be a reasonable estimate. At low power halving the load impedance doubles the power output of the amp, so one would get 3dB from halving the load, 6dB from quartering the load. But amps don't deliver twice the power output into a halved load at full power; look at any amp specs and you see power increases closer to 70% additional per impedance halving at full power.
OTOH if you add a second cab and in so doing don't have to run at full power you'll get 6dB increase, so if you can't get what you need from one cab you'll have a lot better result adding a second than just trying to squeeze every watt out of a head.

billfitzmaurice...to clarify...I guess I was wanting to compare the difference in the db of using 1-8 ohm cab vs 2-4 ohm cabs(for a 2 ohm load )...Peace...DAcat