[newfinator]

Originally Posted by Leon

definitely. running out of the 4ohm jack into a 5.3ohm cab is probably better (and something i would do instead of) than a 16ohm jack into a 24ohm cabinet, since the difference is smaller.

i wouldn't say it's the best thing for your amp, but at the same time, i don't believe it will blow it up either.

Thanks for the help. It seems kinda odd to ask all these questions just because I felt like messing around but at least I learned something.

Sorry, I thought of another related question. Does having an attenuator between the amp and cabinet affect how the amp 'sees' what it's powering. By that I mean, as an example, if I were using an 8 Ohm Hotplate with the amp set at 8 Ohms would it make a difference to the amp what the cabinet was rated at or would it only be a concern for the attenuator.

[Popsyche]

Originally Posted by newfinator

Thanks for the help. It seems kinda odd to ask all these questions just because I felt like messing around but at least I learned something.

Sorry, I thought of another related question. Does having an attenuator between the amp and cabinet affect how the amp 'sees' what it's powering. By that I mean, as an example, if I were using an 8 Ohm Hotplate with the amp set at 8 Ohms would it make a difference to the amp what the cabinet was rated at or would it only be a concern for the attenuator.

I would consult the directions for the attenuator. I have an ancient Altair attenuator that eats Marshall output transformers for lunch.

BTW, what Leon said is good. set it for 4 ohms and run at 5.3. Speakers never really function at their rated impedance throught the frequency spectrum. They vary a bunch!

[newfinator]

Originally Posted by Popsyche

I would consult the directions for the attenuator. I have an ancient Altair attenuator that eats Marshall output transformers for lunch.

BTW, what Leon said is good. set it for 4 ohms and run at 5.3. Speakers never really function at their rated impedance throught the frequency spectrum. They vary a bunch!

According to the Hot Plate documentation the Hot Plate can be used with a cabinet of differing impedance if the impedance of the cabinet is equal or higher than that of the amp AND the impedance of the Hot Plate is equal or higher than that of the amp.

So, if I set the cabinet up with 24 Ohms I guess it's okay to run an 8 Ohm Hot Plate from an Amp set at 8 Ohms. This makes me think that what happens after the attenuator is irrelevant to the amp and is only a potential issue for the attenuator.

[ibznorange]

or, better yet. run them in series, and run that line in parallel with a resistive line to bring it down to 16 or whatever else you prefer

[newfinator]

Originally Posted by ibznorange

or, better yet. run them in series, and run that line in parallel with a resistive line to bring it down to 16 or whatever else you prefer

I hadn't thought of simply adding resistance on the 8 ohm speaker to bring it to matching 16 ohms. Is it possible to effectively add an 8 ohm resistor to the 8 ohm line and then wire it in parralel to arrive at an 8 ohm total for the cab?

[ibznorange]

yes, if you can find a resistor rated for as much power as an amp pushes. dunno the voltage rating youd actually need, but im guessing its fairly high. you could put the 2 speakers in series though, and get 24 ohms. then run that in parallel with 2 more empty lines, which would give you 8 ohms iirc

[Popsyche]

Originally Posted by ibznorange

yes, if you can find a resistor rated for as much power as an amp pushes. dunno the voltage rating youd actually need, but im guessing its fairly high. you could put the 2 speakers in series though, and get 24 ohms. then run that in parallel with 2 more empty lines, which would give you 8 ohms iirc

... and you'd need 2 24 ohm resistors rated for 1/3 of your amp's total output each. That probably would be BIG! (and costly). Plus, they're going to get hot, and need to be mounted to something. Better to do what Leon said, and set your amp for 4 ohms, and run the speakers in parallel.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ibznorange

yes, if you can find a resistor rated for as much power as an amp pushes. dunno the voltage rating youd actually need, but im guessing its fairly high.

that's basically what a resistive load attenuator is. a shiny box with giant resistors in it

[ChrisPcritter]

I may be incorrect but I thought speakers were rated at ohms impedence rather than ohms resistance which greatly changes as power does which is why when you measure the resistance on a 16 ohm cab it sometimes reads 13.
Also mismatching speakers will not give you a good representation of what they would sound like together since one will be using way more power than the other basically I would think the eight ohm speaker would get 2/3's of the current and volume but I haven't actually read this anywhere....

[Leon]

ohms = impedance. it's all the same, i think some people just learn it one way or the other.