Speaker cab compatibility

Hucklebilly · September 28th, 2004, 12:18 PM

I want to build a champ head kit and hook it up to a speaker cabinet with a Celestion G12H-80. Will this work? I know that it's a pretty high-power speaker, but I want to use it for other applications as well. I don't know enough about ohms etc... to tell if the champ and the speaker cab will be compatible. Can you run such a heavy-duty speaker with a little amp?

Jim Collins · September 28th, 2004, 01:40 PM

Just because a speaker is called a high-powered speaker does not mean you need a lot of power to push it. It is more of a measure of the speaker's ability to dissipate heat, which is a big part of handling high power. If the speaker is efficient, it can be pushed with relatively little power. I used to run a speaker rated at 80 watts in an amplifier that was rated at 18 watts. It sounded great, because that particular speaker was quite efficient.

A speaker's rating also has little to do with when it will break up. The aforementioned high-powered speaker would remain clean with all sorts of power applied, but I tried another high-powered speaker (also rated at 80 watts), in the same amp, and it broke up much too early to be useful to me.

It is the impedance that matters. If the amp is expecting an 8 ohm load, as long as that is what you give it, it will be happy.

September 28th, 2004, 12:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
Hucklebilly Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 785 2 Photos	Speaker cab compatibility I want to build a champ head kit and hook it up to a speaker cabinet with a Celestion G12H-80. Will this work? I know that it's a pretty high-power speaker, but I want to use it for other applications as well. I don't know enough about ohms etc... to tell if the champ and the speaker cab will be compatible. Can you run such a heavy-duty speaker with a little amp?

September 28th, 2004, 01:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jim Collins Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 309	Just because a speaker is called a high-powered speaker does not mean you need a lot of power to push it. It is more of a measure of the speaker's ability to dissipate heat, which is a big part of handling high power. If the speaker is efficient, it can be pushed with relatively little power. I used to run a speaker rated at 80 watts in an amplifier that was rated at 18 watts. It sounded great, because that particular speaker was quite efficient. A speaker's rating also has little to do with when it will break up. The aforementioned high-powered speaker would remain clean with all sorts of power applied, but I tried another high-powered speaker (also rated at 80 watts), in the same amp, and it broke up much too early to be useful to me. It is the impedance that matters. If the amp is expecting an 8 ohm load, as long as that is what you give it, it will be happy.