Sunn Sorado, impedance question

[DoomBeard]

So, my first post on this forum's gonna be a newbie question, but whatevs.. .

I've got a Sunn Sorado which I purchased used together with a Sunn 610s cab. The cab is marked for 6 Ohm impedance but the output of the the amp is marked for 8 or 4 ohms. Now, I've read both that "mismatching impedances will KILL YOUR (tube-) AMP instantly!" and "mismatching impedances is not really a big deal". What am I as a happy amateur gonna think? I guess it is up to however the output tranny will cope or not. It seems to me that the tranny in my amp is a Sunn 3-60t, but I have not been able to figure wether or not it will beable to cope with such a mismatch. Can anyone here help me with this?

Thanks before hand.

-Erik

[EdBass]

In my opinion you should be fine using the 8 ohm tap. Most tube amps are tolerant of a slight miss match, 6 ohms nominal is realistically close to 8 ohms, old Sunns have pretty robust transformers, and tube amps are more tolerant of lower impedances than higher impedances.
I think if you search nominal impedance in the search function you will probably get more in depth info regarding this situation.

Wecome to the forum!

[DoomBeard]

Thank you for the answer, it's pretty much the same one I've gotten on other forums and people I've talked to. I will take your advice on searching the forum though.

[Isaac]

I agree that the 8 ohm output should be fine. I also think that the 4 ohm output would be equally fine. Mathematically, if the drivers are 8 ohms (which they are, nominally), then 6 of them work out to 5.3 ohms nominal. Using 5.3 ohms, the 4 ohm output is a closer match.

However - you knew there had to be one, right? - nominal impedance is a very fluid thing, as EdBass alludes to. Many people strongly believe that a lower impedance load is safer for the amp than a higher one, if there must be a mismatch, in which case the 8 ohm setting would be safer. I am of the camp that holds that a mismatch of up to 100% is nothing to worry about.

[stanner]

good answers-not to hijack-I have a 8 ohm Orange 4X12 and a 16ohm Orange 4X12. i would like to try to run these together from an old Model T. what ohm setting for the two's of them running @ once? I don't want to open the cabs and rewire etc.
(didn't want to start a new thread over a trifle...)

[Isaac]

Same answers. An 8 ohm cabinet and a 16 ohm cabinet work out to 5.3 ohms, just like the 610S.

[stanner]

thanks man-I knew you knew

[CLD]

Welcome to the forum, DoomBeard!

Hope you like your Sorado - I bought mine new in 1971 and it still sounds great.

 

[DoomBeard]

I agree that the 8 ohm output should be fine. I also think that the 4 ohm output would be equally fine. Mathematically, if the drivers are 8 ohms (which they are, nominally), then 6 of them work out to 5.3 ohms nominal. Using 5.3 ohms, the 4 ohm output is a closer match.

However - you knew there had to be one, right? - nominal impedance is a very fluid thing, as EdBass alludes to. Many people strongly believe that a lower impedance load is safer for the amp than a higher one, if there must be a mismatch, in which case the 8 ohm setting would be safer. I am of the camp that holds that a mismatch of up to 100% is nothing to worry about.

Thank you for your answer. It seems to me that there is really no consensus on what is right and what is wrong in this matter... Some people say with certainty that it would be ampicide (new word? ) to mismatch at all. My Sorado is for the moment at a service guy, some old engineer who's know what's what when it comes to amps, when he has looked thru it and fixed what needs to be fixed, I will ask him what he thinks the OP-tranny will cope.

[DoomBeard]

Welcome to the forum, DoomBeard!

Hope you like your Sorado - I bought mine new in 1971 and it still sounds great.

 

Thank you!

I do like it, but I havn't really tested it out properly yet. It's in service at the moment.