Please explain this in language that idiots understand!

[chrisanthony1211]

Im looking at an Eden metro on eBay, in the write he mentions that the speakers have been changed to 8ohm, please read below and tell me whether this is a good or bad thing he has done! I think I'm stupid!

It is equipped with 2 brand new 8ohm Eminence delta 350w speakers meaning that the combo is uprated to run at 4 ohms. The amp head is designed to run down to 2 ohms where it will give 600 watts so at 4 ohms it gives around 375w and at 8 ohms around 250w. Running at 4 ohms means you get a fantastic one cab set up but can still add another 4 ohm cab to get up to 600w (if you should choose to hurt your audience). The roundness of the sound is really impressive with deeply penetrating bass tone that will cut through any mix.

[Magic Matt]

Yes, the original speakers I think are 16 ohm, so the two combined gives you 8ohm.
By using two 8ohm speakers, the two combined will give you 4ohm.

As for whether or not this is a good idea will greatly depend on whether the drivers he has chosen match the cabinet well, and also how much you like the sound, which will be different to an unmodified amp. I'm being careful not to use terms like "better" here, because that also depends on what kind of tone you like.

Personally, I'd never buy a modified amp without hearing it first.

In terms of whether it's ok to do what has been done - yes, the amp is more than capable of handling that modification, but you need to be aware that because the combo is now a 4 ohm cabinet, not an 8 ohm cabinet, the additional speaker options you have will be different to those described in the manual.

[icastle]

Electronic theory says this is OK, but in practice you can't just wallop any old speaker into a wooden box and expect it to work to it's optimum.

[Phil Starr]

The Eminence deltas have a rather odd frequency response which is going to be a bit marmite, you'll either like them or not at all. The cab is mworth less because it isn't original.

The cab looks about the right size for the deltas but of course may be tuned to the wrong frequency. Don't buy unless it is a bargain and you like the sound when you hear it.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1413324408' post='2577265']
Electronic theory says this is OK, but in practice you can't just wallop any old speaker into a wooden box and expect it to work to it's optimum.
[/quote]+1. And while the Delta 12 has a 350w rating, that's thermal, which only says what it will take before the voice coil burns out. What matters in terms of output capability is xmax. At only 2.4mm it will only take 50 watts in the critical 60Hz-150Hz range before serious distortion occurs. Don't buy the cab.

[chrisanthony1211]

Thanks to everyone for the very informative feedback, I think I shall give this a miss.

[Magic Matt]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1413338781' post='2577326']
+1. And while the Delta 12 has a 350w rating, that's thermal, which only says what it will take before the voice coil burns out. What matters in terms of output capability is xmax. At only 2.4mm it will only take 50 watts in the critical 60Hz-150Hz range before serious distortion occurs. Don't buy the cab.
[/quote]

...except they're Delta 10 and have an Xmax of 3.5mm ... though I don't know how you work out the max watts at that bit of the range.

[jacko]

For completeness, this was the same amp being sold on here by VINorange and it arrived at my house last night. Sounds great and it's loud as f**k so I'm pretty happy the OP passed it up. I'm only going to be using it as a rehearsal amp as I always gig with my Mesa rig so I don't know how it would handle in a pub but it's not going to have any difficulty holding it's own in the local community centre