Amps and cabs - help a noob

[samthebassman]

I have no doubt that this has been asked before, but I couldn't find a suitable thread. I have also checked the internet generally, again to no avail.

I've got my eye on a Warwick LWA 500 Black - one of those small class D jobs. 

It does 500 Watts at 4ohms or 250 Watts at 8ohms - so far so good, but...

It only has one speaker output on the back. Having looked around a bit 500 watt 4 ohm cabs don't seem to be very easy to come by. There are plenty of 250 Watt+ 8 ohm cabs, but then I'm limited to 250 Watts.

Here's the noob question:

What can I do? Is there any way that I can attach 2 8 ohm cabs even though there's only one speaker output on the amp?

TIA

[King Tut]

Most (not all) cabs have two speaker sockets. So you go from the amp into cab 1, then use the second socket on cab 1 to push a lead to cab 2. Voila!

[samthebassman]

Just now, King Tut said:

Most (not all) cabs have two speaker sockets. So you go from the amp into cab 1, then use the second socket on cab 1 to push a lead to cab 2. Voila!

I'm so glad you said that. I thought that it was the case, but after some internet research I got all caught up in series vs parallel and how it affects the impedance blah blah. Then I looked at some cabs that had two sockets on the back, but they both said 'input', but I couldn't figure out for the life of me why a cab would need two inputs. Then I couldn't figure out whether one has to be used as an input and another as an output etc...

Basically I ended up really confused. 

So two 8 ohm cabs that have two sockets on the back and a total capacity of over 500 watts will do the trick, correct?

[King Tut]

1 minute ago, samthebassman said:

I'm so glad you said that. I thought that it was the case, but after some internet research I got all caught up in series vs parallel and how it affects the impedance blah blah. Then I looked at some cabs that had two sockets on the back, but they both said 'input', but I couldn't figure out for the life of me why a cab would need two inputs. Then I couldn't figure out whether one has to be used as an input and another as an output etc...

Basically I ended up really confused. 

So two 8 ohm cabs that have two sockets on the back and a total capacity of over 500 watts will do the trick, correct?

That's right buddy

[Quilly]

I’m surprised your amp has only one speaker out , are you sure you don’t have a speakon and 1/4” out that’s often the case.

[warwickhunt]

16 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I’m surprised your amp has only one speaker out , are you sure you don’t have a speakon and 1/4” out that’s often the case.

Not 'that' uncommon.  If it did have one Speakon + one 1/4" it's unlikely they are parallel.  

 

[samthebassman]

30 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I’m surprised your amp has only one speaker out , are you sure you don’t have a speakon and 1/4” out that’s often the case.

Definitely just the one. Seems to be quite common on small class D amp heads.

[Dan Dare]

11 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

Not 'that' uncommon.  If it did have one Speakon + one 1/4" it's unlikely they are parallel.  

 

Did you mean likely? Speaker outs are virtually always parallel. 

[warwickhunt]

Yes, speaker outs are as far as I am aware always parallel (can't think if a series coupling) but when you have single outs of one type Speakon or 1/4" they don't always follow that rule and it is a case of one or the other.  I'm trying to recall which amp I had a couple of years ago that had this and plugging into one output disabled the other; you could use the Speakon or the 1/4" but not both.  It makes no difference as you daisy chain from the cab... assuming cab has in/out.  There could well be amps with one of each that work in parallel but you'd need to try it to be sure (you'd not do harm as it would be parallel or not work).  

I think the caveat is that anyone plugging in cabs needs to be aware of is cab ohmage ratings and being sure to use appropriate speaker cables wired correctly.  Not unheard of for noobies to use wimpy guitar leads or homemade leads wired in reverse.