spliting a 2x12 into a 2(1x12)

ecc83

ChrisMusic said:

Thanks again @ecc83, I follow all that OK, but...

Surely two same spec 16Ω drivers in parallel is seen as the same thing as a single 8Ω one? or whatever impedance is still halved at resonance?  Is that not really the whole story?  I think I am missing something here.  help...

Heh! It's a bit "Einstienian". All relative! Yes, the AMP "sees" two paralleled 16s as 8R . However in a 4x12 each speaker must see either 8 Ohms in series, i.e two 16s or another 16Ohms depending on how the cab is wired. 

This assumes the amplifier has a near zero output Z (high damping factor) which in fact will not be the case for any valve guitar amp and some are several tens of Ohms OPZ. 

ICBM has expressed a preference for one wiring regime over the other but I am blowed if I can remember which one he favours!

Dave.

ICBM

Neither really, there are pros and cons to both. What you may be thinking of is that I don't really agree with the theory that parallel is inherently safer because if one speaker blows the amp still has a load. Or rather, it's true for the short time until the other speaker blows! Which it will, if the amp was capable of blowing the first… so now you have *two* dead speakers and no load on the amp .

ChrisMusic

Cheers ecc83 & ICBM, I appreciate the info on this, it has all been a very long time, and the little grey cells were never too happy working in synchrony, let alone in relativity !   Good to get back to some of this stuff.  On another track, I never did know much about the inner workings of valve amps, so all your contributions in various discussions on here are being a real education for me,  thanks  

Sorry for the minor, but loosely related thread-jack, Col_Decker, back to you now...