Author Topic: Impedance question: Sunn 6x10, Ampeg 2x15, Acoustic 370  (Read 3467 times)

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Tony

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Impedance question: Sunn 6x10, Ampeg 2x15, Acoustic 370
« on: July 18, 2003, 03:09:24 pm »
Hi all.

I am having some questions going through my head lately concerning my current bass rig, and I was hoping someone could help me out;


I am running an Acoustic 370 head (375 watts) into a Sunn 610L cabinet (6 ohms, 200 watts) and an old Ampeg B25B 2x15 cabinet (4 ohms, ? watts). Now, my worries lie in the fact that, obviously the impedances are not exactly matching up here. Will I eventually end up damaging my cabinets or my amp head by continuing to use this setup? Is there too much wattage going into my Sunn cabinet? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Offline tube

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Impedance question: Sunn 6x10, Ampeg 2x15, Acoustic 370
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2003, 08:16:21 am »
hi tony,

here's the math for a paralell conection:

 4  x  6
 _____

 4 + 6

 4 x 6 = 24     4 + 6 = 10    24 / 10 = 2.4 ohms

my personal opinion is that your acoustic amp will play fine through both boxes (my acoustic 220 is only rated to 4 ohms) as long as you don't wind it up. if you consider that your amp is a "current" pump, a 4 ohm load draws roughly 1.5 times the current of an 8 ohm load. 2 ohms is more like 2 times the current. that math goes like this:

 output current squared x load impedance = power in watts

working the inverse of that equation, a 200 watt output amp driving an 8 ohm load would produce current that would be the square root of 200 over 8 (i picked an easy one, hehe, the square root of 25 is 5.) if your amp is capable of putting out 5 amps of current without melting, it would work. with a 4 ohm load, 200 over 4, square root of 50, you'd be around 7 amps. with a 2 ohm load, square root of 100, you'd be around 10 amps.

in general, a solid state amp would be direct coupled to the load (won't use an impedance matching transformer like a tubed amp) and impedance matching is of less consequence. most transistor amps won't stand loads under 2 ohms and none that i'm aware of like a load below 1 ohm and those are generally adaptations of industrial servo amp designs with questionable fidelity (high  distortion ratings.)

i hope this helps answer your question.

best regards, tube
best regards, tube

"i live in an alternate universe, but i have a summer home in reality."

Anonymous

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Impedance question: Sunn 6x10, Ampeg 2x15, Acoustic 370
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2003, 04:32:42 am »
Driving a 2 ohm load with a 370 is not a problem.  The 375 watt rating is with a 2 ohm load.