Wiring speaker cabs

Jpwikid

Jpwikid

New member
Ok, I'm no electronics wiz so I need a little help wiring 2 cabs.....I have an Avatar 2x12 with celestion G12T-100's cab that is presently wired in series with 2 - 4 ohm speakers.....I metered it and that' s showing an 8 ohm output....That cab has an output to plug into another cab.....The second cab is an Avatar 2x12 with EV SRO's, the white alnico coffee can magnets which sound oh so sweet, that are 8 ohms...I haven't taken the back off yet but my meter is reading 16 ohms so I'm guessing their also wired in series...So, there lies my problem...I have an 8 ohm cab and a 16 ohm cab...I would like to run them together but with my setup it seems impossible...My head can switch from 4,8, and 16....With the 2 cabs running together now I'm getting around 6 ohms...I'm running my head on 4 ohms with the 2 cabs now but i would like to get the cabs matched properly....The only solution I've come up with is to run a resister on one of the cabs to either add or subtract ohmage...Again, electronics kinda escaped me in high school, along with a few other subjects :confused:, so any suggestions would be appreciated....Also, it would be nice to get some actual assisstance besides buy a 4x12 cab or just use one cab :rolleyes:.....I actually have 2 heads and can split the cabs up, I'm just looking for other options with this configuration....Ythanx
 
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Jpwikid said:
Ok, I'm no electronics wiz so I need a little help wiring 2 cabs.....I have an Avatar 2x12 with celestion G12T-100's cab that is presently wired in series with 2 - 4 ohm speakers.....I metered it and that' s showing an 8 ohm output....That cab has an output to plug into another cab.....The second cab is an Avatar 2x12 with EV SRO's, the white alnico coffee can magnets which sound oh so sweet, that are 8 ohms...I haven't taken the back off yet but my meter is reading 16 ohms so I'm guessing their also wired in series...So, there lies my problem...I have an 8 ohm cab and a 16 ohm cab...I would like to run them together but with my setup it seems impossible...My head can switch from 4,8, and 16....With the 2 cabs running together now I'm getting around 6 ohms...I'm running my head on 4 ohms with the 2 cabs now but i would like to get the cabs matched properly....The only solution I've come up with is to run a resister on one of the cabs to either add or subtract ohmage...Again, electronics kinda escaped me in high school, along with a few other subjects :confused:, so any suggestions would be appreciated....Also, it would be nice to get some actual assisstance besides buy a 4x12 cab or just use one cab :rolleyes:.....I actually have 2 heads and can split the cabs up, I'm just looking for other options with this configuration....Ythanx
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Are you sure the celestion G12-100's are 4 ohm. I would think they were 2 16 ohm's wired in parallel. Also are you sure of the other speakers impedance? I would open both and check. Checking DC resistance of a speaker is never the actual impedance reading. A 16 ohm speaker might read 12 ohms on an ohms meter.
VP
 
Victory Pete said:
Are you sure the celestion G12-100's are 4 ohm. I would think they were 2 16 ohm's wired in parallel. Also are you sure of the other speakers impedance? I would open both and check. Checking DC resistance of a speaker is never the actual impedance reading. A 16 ohm speaker might read 12 ohms on an ohms meter.
VP
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Yeah, I opened them both up and yes the first one has 2 4 ohm speakers wired in series and meters around 8.3 ohms, and the 2nd cab has 2 8 ohm speakers wired in series and meters around 16.5 ohms....running them both I'm getting 6.5 ohms......Thanx for your input.....JP
 
What kind of meter are you using? It is interesting it is actually reading the impedance value. What kind of amp do you have? Is it tube or solid state?
VP
 
Jpwikid said:
Yeah, I opened them both up and yes the first one has 2 4 ohm speakers wired in series and meters around 8.3 ohms, and the 2nd cab has 2 8 ohm speakers wired in series and meters around 16.5 ohms....running them both I'm getting 6.5 ohms......Thanx for your input.....JP
Click to expand...

That configuration should give you 5.33 ohms. Set the amp's impedance to 4 ohms and it will run fine. Unless your amp is very poorly designed the transformer will easily handle such a small mismatch.
This calculator comes in handy. http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/impedance_proc.php
 
Victory Pete said:
What kind of meter are you using? It is interesting it is actually reading the impedance value. What kind of amp do you have? Is it tube or solid state?
VP
Click to expand...

Just using a cheap digital multimeter....I set the dial at the 200 ohm setting for ohmage.......I'm metering the cable from the cab that would be going into the head and it's reading a little over 6 ohms.....I have a Marshall 6100 anniversary and a Line 6 Bogner Spider Valve 100HD...Both have options for 4 ohms where I'm running the heads.....Ythanx....JP
 
ocnor said:
That configuration should give you 5.33 ohms. Set the amp's impedance to 4 ohms and it will run fine. Unless your amp is very poorly designed the transformer will easily handle such a small mismatch.
This calculator comes in handy. http://www.colomar.com/Shavano/impedance_proc.php
Click to expand...


Yeah, my little cheap-o meter reads around 6.2, so I'm sure it's off by a few...I do have both heads set at 4 ohms when I use the cabs together...I was just curious if it would affect the sound running 6 ohms ( or 5.33 ) on a 4 ohm amp setting.....Ythanx.....JP
 
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