question on speaker load

[guitarcats]

I am about 2 weeks from setting up my new rig with SMS, MC50 and 2X12 cabinet. I have 2 8ohm JBL E120s and wanted to know if it was better to hook them up for a 4ohm load or 16ohms.

[mijknahs]

Most people hook them up in parallel (4 ohms) rather than running them all together in series (16 ohms). That way you could run them separately to the amp (both going to the same 4 ohm tap of course) and if one blows the other won't be affected by the other defective speaker. But if you had them in series and one blew, you would get no sound because they're all wired together. I hope that makes some sense.

[hippieguy1954]

4 ohms

[guitarcats]

So would there be any benefit to running at 16ohms?

[gr8fullfred]

There is no benefit of running 16 ohms. Unless you had a 4x12 cabinet in which case you could have
2 pairs of series connected speakers in parallel giving you an 8 ohm cabinet.

But for a 2x12 you are better off hooking up in parallel giving you a 4 ohm cabinet.

Many amps have a 4 ohm output, have not seen one with a 16 ohm output. (ok early tube amps in the 50s might have had a 16 ohm transformer tap).

Also a four ohm cabinet will require less power for the same sound level output. (or at least a lower voltage to produce the same output.)

If you have a stereo amp, you could have two jacks on the cabinet, and run one channel of the amp
to each speaker.

Bottom line Yay on the 4 ohm, nay on the 16 ohm.

[guitarcats]

There is no benefit of running 16 ohms. Unless you had a 4x12 cabinet in which case you could have
2 pairs of series connected speakers in parallel giving you an 8 ohm cabinet.

But for a 2x12 you are better off hooking up in parallel giving you a 4 ohm cabinet.

Many amps have a 4 ohm output, have not seen one with a 16 ohm output. (ok early tube amps in the 50s might have had a 16 ohm transformer tap).

Also a four ohm cabinet will require less power for the same sound level output. (or at least a lower voltage to produce the same output.)

If you have a stereo amp, you could have two jacks on the cabinet, and run one channel of the amp
to each speaker.

Bottom line Yay on the 4 ohm, nay on the 16 ohm.

Thats all I needs to know, many thanks.