guitar speakers

nighthawk · Post by **nighthawk** » Thursday May 20, 2004

i am wondering if there is a quality differnce between 8 or 16 ohm speakers. not necesarily between brands. like if you had a 16 ohm century and an 8 ohm century would there be any difference is sound quality.

facingwest · Post by **facingwest** » Friday May 21, 2004

I honestly don't think so. The only thing that's going to be different is the resistance needed to match what the poweramp is pushing. I believe that if you want more speakers, go for the 16 ohms instead of 8, so you can have a 4 12" cab. Again, it's going to depend on what resistance the poweramp is calling for. Ron, as well as, a few others are going to know the difference and be able to explain the technical end of it. I just know what to plug where and how to make it all work.

Oh, as far as the sound, of course if you have more speakers it's going to sound fuller.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Monday May 24, 2004

There shouldn't be any difference in sound between the same model with different impedances. The different impedances give you different options as far as cabinet impedances.

In a 4 speaker cabinet wired in series/parallel, the cabinet impedance will equal the impedance of the individual speakers.

Some power amps, like older Marshalls, turn into paper/flamethrowers when driven at 4 ohms, so you might want to use a pair of 16 ohms in parallel to get an 8 ohm 2-12 cab.

Check your power amp for the minimum load impedance, and try to match the cabinets for that impedance. That will give you the maximum safe output.