Impedance.

[throwoff]

I know there have been threads about this but I still can't understand it.

I am buying a Warwick Profet 5.1 which has 1 speakon out at 500W with a 4ohm impedance.

If I buy a 6 ohm cab what will happen? I assume it will power it but I will lose some watts?

Secondly If I wanted to daisy chain two cabs (a 410 and 115) and they were both 4 ohm I would then end up with an 8ohm load so get half power?

[chris_b]

Don't go less than 4 ohm.

5, 6, 7, 8 ohms is fine.

2 x 8 ohm = 4 ohm which is ok.

2 x 4 ohm = 2 ohm and is not ok for an amp that only goes to 4 ohm.

1 4 ohm + 1 8 ohm = 2.6 ohm and is not ok either.

Edited September 14, 2011 by chris_b

[throwoff]

Thank you so much.

I have printed this off and put it in my important documents folder!

[mart]

[quote name='throwoff' post='1372903' date='Sep 14 2011, 10:03 AM']I know there have been threads about this but I still can't understand it.

I am buying a Warwick Profet 5.1 which has 1 speakon out at 500W with a 4ohm impedance.

If I buy a 6 ohm cab what will happen? I assume it will power it but I will lose some watts?
...[/quote]
With a 6 ohm cab you will, theoretically, get slightly less power than you would through a 4ohm cab. But it'll probably make very little difference in terms of perceived volume.

[xgsjx]

I take it the 6Ω cab is either a 3x10 or a 6x10? A 6x10 running at 6Ω should be louder than a 4Ω 4x10 as it's moving more air (how many watts the cab gets from your amp wont make a noticeable difference).
If you're like me & rarely put your bass through the PA (too small a PA for everything really), then your best option is having all your drivers vertical, such as 2 15"s or 2 2x10"s stacked on end.
This way your sound will spread across your audience better.

[flyfisher]

[quote name='throwoff' post='1372903' date='Sep 14 2011, 10:03 AM']Secondly If I wanted to daisy chain two cabs (a 410 and 115) and they were both 4 ohm I would then end up with an 8ohm load so get half power?[/quote]

Be careful to properly understand the term 'daisy chain'.

Amps often have two outputs and speakers often have two connectors. The amp outputs are almost certainly wired in parallel.

There are two ways to connect two cabs to an amp with two parallel outputs:

1. connect each cab directly to the amp.
2. connect the amp to one cab and then connect that cab to the second cab.

Physically, 1 is a parallel connection and 2 is a daisy chain. BUT, and it's a very important but, BOTH connections are electrically parallel. In the case of two 4-ohm cabs this means the amp will see a 2-ohm load, which will be a bad thing, possibly involving magic smoke.

To connect two 4-ohm cabs and get an 8-ohm load, the cabs must be connected [u]electrically in series[/u]. This will require special cables.

Edited September 14, 2011 by flyfisher