In general I have a hard time understanding ohms and watts and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction or has input... I have a Trace Elliot 1x10" cabinet(300 watts - 8ohm) that I'm using with an Ashdown Ant pedalboard amp(200 watts at 4ohm, 140 watts at 8ohm). I'm thinking about adding another Trace Elliot 1x10" cab and just wondering if this is a good or bad idea...maybe it doesn't matter but I'm wondering if the amp isn't really powerful enough to push two of these cabs...would these two cabs be better suited for an amp that is closer to 300-400 watts..? My main concern is weight since I have a bad back and gotta be careful, so far these are the lightest cabs I've been able to find and I like them. Also just fyi I am playing old country/jazz type stuff in smaller venues and the drummer does not hit loud, we don't play loud and volume isn't a big deal, mainly I'm wanting to make sure the ohms and watts are working well and that I'm getting the best tone I can get out of my setup. Thanks
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Trace Elliot 1x10" ohms/watts question
- Thread starter Ripper24
- Start date
Two of those speakers cabs (at 8 ohms each) would probably be the best way to get more volume and maximize your 200 available watts.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,952
- 5
- 220,599
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Adding a second cab should provide a fuller sound and about 4dB more headroom
The cabs will be connected in parallel. Two 8 ohm cabs in parallel = 4 ohms. Per the specs you provided, the available power will increase from 140W to 200W. Raising the power from 140W to 200W produces a +1.5dB change, which is a small but noticeable change.
But that is not all. Increasing the number of drivers increases radiation efficiency. If you double the drivers and they are very close together, the general rule is sensitivity goes up about 3dB. Real world you probably get +2.5dB as the coupling between drivers is not perfect.
1.5 + 2.5 = 4dB
Since you will be using matching cabs, they will share available power equally. That means each cab will get 100W when the amp is making rated power at 4 ohms. There is absolutely no problem here.
If one cab at 140W is loud enough, and 2 cabs at 200W is louder; then you are good to go as long as you like the range of tones this amp/cab combination can produce.
An amp that can deliver 300W or 400W will provide even more headroom. Also a different amp may produce a significantly different range of tones that you may like better or worse.
First of all, 200 watts is no small amount of power, regardless of what anybody may say. So, adding another of those 8-ohm cabs will help in two ways: getting the most out the amp and increasing the amount of sound coming out of your cabs. Since you like the tone already, it's a smart and efficient plan to make a more capable setup. I would love to play through that.
If you are happy with your current volume and sound, you can keep your rig unchanged. The concern is an amp with more wattage output than the cab can handle - you are nowhere near that with 1 or 2 cabs
No brainer - should be a great match and your rig sounds like a very easy schlep! I’ve been curious about the Ashdown Ant, too.
So if I did upgrade from my 200 watt amp to a 500 watt amp, would it still be ok to use the 2 Trace Elliot 110 cabs..? Again they are 300 watts at 8 ohms so I'm just wondering if a 500 watt amp would be too much for them... Is a 300-400 watt amp the sweet spot for those cabs?
The combined power rating is 600W RMS. IMHO it should be safe to use a 500W amp. However, 500W may still be enough to damage the cabs if you go nuts cranking the low end. We don't know the mechanical limits of the ELF110.
Explanation:
A cab's RMS power rating basically tells us how much power the voice coil can handle without overheating. With bass cabs, we also need to be concerned with mechanical power handling below 100hz. Often mechanical power handling is less than the RMS power rating. Few companies publish data about their designs mechanical power handling.
Mechanical power handling depends on both the driver's characteristics and the characteristics of the cab it is in. Change how the cab is tuned and it impacts the low frequency cutoff, low frequency response, and mechanical power handling.
The excursion plot of a woofer in a ported cab will have sort of an S-shaped excursion plot. As the frequency drops below about 500hz, excursion begins to increase. Around 100hz excursion will begin to decrease as the port starts to approach resonance. At resonance the port is making most of the sound and providing maximum resistance to woofer excursion. Below port resonance the systems response will drop off quickly and cone excursion will increase.
I don't have a model of the ELF110 so I will provide an example using a medium box design for an Eminence 2510.
- Xmax for the 2510 is 4.2mm.
- Fb (resonance) for this cab design is 75hz
- RMS power rating is 250W
- Mechanical Power handling for this cab/driver combination is 200W
As I understand it, your 500w amp will supply an equal amount of 'juice' to each cabinet.. So 250w each. Your cabs are rated to 300w each so I don't think you need to worry
Cool.. I have a stack of 3 1x10's running from an Aguilar AG amp (500w) ... So 165w to each cab... More than I will ever need..!!
I also have a 2x8 cab running from an Elf, which is different sounding again...
I also have a 2x8 cab running from an Elf, which is different sounding again...
