Please help! Another OHM dilemma question

[lex666]

Please help on this OHM challenge I'm confronted with...

I have 2 mini amp heads: 1. Mesa Boogie Mark Five 25 with 2x4ohm & 1x8ohm output and
2. Marshall DSL1HR1 with a single 16ohm output

I am going for 2 cabinets - each with a single 10" speaker

Question: What ohm rating should both speakers/cabs be in order to use both mini heads? And should they be wired in parallel or series?

Thanks in advance!

[t1r12003]

You need an 8 ohm speaker for the Mesa and 16 ohm speaker for the Marshall. Don’t wire them together, just keep them separate. Are you wanting to use both amps at once? If so get an amp splitter like Radial Tonebone Big Shot ABY and run it that way. You can get a 16 ohm speaker cab and run the Mesa into it no problem. Higher ohm speaker means it’s resisting the amp more which is safe but lower ohms speaker than the amp wants to see can damage your amp.

[ehdwuld]

Make both speakers 16 ohm

Use only one with the Marshall
Use two with the Mesa
Or as the previous post said
Use just one

[Demanic]

If you wire two 16ohm speakers in series/parallel wouldn't you still have 16 ohms?

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[ehdwuld]

Explain what you mean by wiring them both ways

If you have four

You wire speaker one and two in series (32 ohms)
And speakers three and four in series (32 Ohms)

Then the 1&2 pair gets wired to the 3&4 pair
in parallel
(32+32)÷4=16

If they are all four 16 ohm speakers
the result is a 16 ohm load

Doing the reverse works as well

1&2 in parallel (16+16)÷4=8
3&4:in parallel (16+16)÷4=8

Then the pairs in series
8+8=16

16 ohms

But i am unaware how this is done with only two speakers

You can either wire them in series
Or parallel, but not both ways

[Demanic]

Explain what you mean by wiring them both ways

If you have four

You wire speaker one and two in series (32 ohms)
And speakers three and four in series (32 Ohms)

Then the 1&2 pair gets wired to the 3&4 pair
in parallel
(32+32)�4=16

If they are all four 16 ohm speakers
the result is a 16 ohm load

Doing the reverse works as well

1&2 in parallel (16+16)�4=8
3&4:in parallel (16+16)�4=8

Then the pairs in series
8+8=16

16 ohms

But i am unaware how this is done with only two speakers

You can either wire them in series
Or parallel, but not both ways

Well, I did it with 4 16's. So maybe my math is off.

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[devastone]

Well, I did it with 4 16's. So maybe my math is off.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

Yes, you can wire 4X 16 ohm speakers in a series/parallel arrangement to get 16 ohms, with just 2 speakers you have to make a choice, series or parallel.

[devastone]

To answer the OP

Solution 1 - use an 8 ohm speaker in each cabinet. Plug each cabinet into the 2X 4 ohm jacks on the Mesa, where it says "use with 2 8 ohm speakers". For the Marshall you'll need to make a special cable or wire in a special jack on one of the cabs to put the speakers in series to get 16 ohms

Solution 2 - use 16 ohm speakers in each cabinet and put a parallel jack on one of the cabs (the way speaker cabs are normally wired) and run a speaker cable from one cabinet to the other, then plug those into the 8 ohm jack on the Mesa. For the Marshall you'll only be able to use one cab, but it's a 1W amp, should be plenty.

In other words, there isn't a straight forward solution to the original question, it's a compromise either way.

[ehdwuld]

To answer the OP


Solution 2 - use 16 ohm speakers in each cabinet and put a parallel jack on one of the cabs (the way speaker cabs are normally wired) and run a speaker cable from one cabinet to the other, then plug those into the 8 ohm jack on the Mesa. For the Marshall you'll only be able to use one cab, but it's a 1W amp, should be plenty.

In other words, there isn't a straight forward solution to the original question, it's a compromise either way.

This is the method i use
i have two 16 ohm speakers in separate cabinetcabinets
and daisy chain them together for my 5 watt Bugera G5

I have used the one 16 ohm with the Bugera while i waited on the second cab to arrive

Sounds fine

If you only plan on using one at a time
Get a single 16 ohm cab
and use with either one

If each has its own cab
Make them both 16 ohm

Put different speakers in each one and get new flavors by swapping up