Are floor monitors like guitar amps?

pintspiller

Our guitarist has two floor monitors. Gear4music brand. One active, one passive. Our drummer has two monitors with busted amps. The guitarist said to connect them to his. Doesnt the "volume" go down with solid state stuff the more speakers you add?

I'm thinking about getting a cheap power amp or Guitar head to power the drummers monitors.

ICBM

No - the volume goes up until you reach the minimum impedance, and then if you go below that very rapidly down to silence as the smoke comes out...

If the existing powered monitor is already driving one unpowered monitor, *do not* connect any more. They are designed to operate in pairs, any more than that will take it below the minimum impedance.

Get a cheap power amp, or a PA head - not a guitar amp. You can easily pick up old PA heads in the 100-150W range - especially if they have no XLR inputs - for under £100. Laney, Carlsbro, Peavey, HH and others all made reliable amps that will drive a pair of monitors.

pintspiller

The passive one as an "in" and "out". Presumably this is why the guitarist encouraged me to connect more on. I knew there'd be some sort of restriction but don't know what.

One active and three passive at 8ohm each is equivalent to a 2ohm load?

Can't find out the min impedance for the active monitor.

ICBM

pintspiller said:

One active and three passive at 8ohm each is equivalent to a 2ohm load?

Yes. Even if there's an 'in' and an 'out' they will almost certainly be in parallel not series.

pintspiller said:

Can't find out the min impedance for the active monitor.

Although possible, it's quite rare for solid-state power amps to be rated for less than 4 ohms.

pintspiller

Seems crazy to have a "through" when an amp can only power one extension

ICBM

pintspiller said:

Seems crazy to have a "through" when an amp can only power one extension

Not if you're using a separate power amp. A 4-ohm-rated amp can power two cabinets, so it's likely to be useful to daisy-chain them.