SB-200 speaker replacement

[brettpobastad@hotmail.com]

I need some techie help. I have a Sunn SB-200 bass amp that I bought new back in the mid 80's. I need to replce the single 15" speaker. The operators manual says the speaker is a model 81-0144 rated at 200 watts at 8 ohms but the speaker itself says the it's a model 144 rated at 100 watts RMS and 200 watts program at 4 ohms. What the hell does THAT mean? What speaker should I get, ratings wise?

[Don T.]

Hello:
 The SB 200 had a 81-0144 (2"VC 54 ounce magnet res fz 50 hz) speaker rated at 100 watts rms / 200watts program / 400 watts peak @ 4ohms. As you can see it all depends on which spec they are quoting in the documentation. Speaker marketing guys kept changing the rating so it seemed like speakers were getting tougher when in fact it was all smoke and mirrors.

[brettpobastad@hotmail.com]

Ok....so what does that mean? Can I put an 8 ohm speaker in there? How about a 100 watt / 4 ohm? Give me some info I can use! (please)

[djg]

Hi Brett!

  You can replace the original SB-200 bass amp speaker with a decent 100 or 200 watt rms - 4ohm speaker.  The information stamped on the original speaker itself is what I would use to find a replacement.

Another helpful hint is if the owners manual states what the minimum speaker ohm its rated at.  For example, my Sunn Coliseum 300 bass amp head will dish out 300 watts at 2 ohms, 200 watts at 4 ohms and 120 watts at 8 ohms.  What this means is that I can hook up one or more speakers as long as the total ohms is not less that 2 ohms.  But, I will only get 120 watts with a 8 ohm speaker, 200 watts with a 4 ohm speaker, etc...

Hope this helps!

djg.