The sunn Forum
Sunn Musical Equipment => Q & A => Topic started by: shibbz on January 28, 2011, 10:24:25 pm
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In the catalog thread it mentions the Alpha combos are rated at 50 watts at 8 ohms. Is 8 ohms the minimum? Would it make more power with a 4 ohm load?
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This is Rex. I was one of the designers that worked on the Alpha amp series. In engineering this was called the "Mojo", but marketing renamed it to Alpha for continuity with the 100 watt Beta line.(we were disappointed, we liked Mojo much better) Yes, it will produce more power into a 4 ohm load, probably about 85 watts or so. However, it could potentially overheat and blow the output transistors. However, it MIGHT be just fine, because the Alpha series used an aluminum chassis....that actually functioned as the heatsink. To be safe, you could add a fan inside the chassis to keep the heat down. No guarantees though, if you are cranking it hard in the 105 degree Arizona sun, you might blow it, but this is true of any power amp. We rated all the Sunn gear VERY conservatively, and the 50 watts was CLEAN...in the linear range. It would be safer to just swap out the existing speaker with a more efficient 8 ohm speaker, like an 85 watt Celestion or similar. It would be louder, have better tone, and not be at risk of blowing.