What would happen if I put a 16 ohm speaker in a solid state...

[Rex_Rocker]

... that comes stock with an 8 ohm speaker?

Will it just produce less output or will I hurt something?

It's a Peavey Vypyr 30 and that's in question. And the speaker is Celestion G12-35XC.

[Securb]

Musch less output but you will not hurt the amp.

[skyydogg01]

I've done it. Didn't notice a drop in volume or anything. It was a Vintage 30, though, in a Crate GT65.

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[Rex_Rocker]

Alright! Thanks, dudes.

[NegativeEase]

Solid State amps give no f*cks usually -it just changes the output level and the amount of heat dissipated.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Solid state amps have a minimum impedance they can work with.

As an example, my Hartke LH500 bass amp is 500 watts into 4 ohms, and 350 watts into 8 ohms. About 150 watts into 16 ohms. You can’t go lower than 4 ohms or you can damage the amp. It will sink too much current through the speaker load and burn out the output devices.

So you will get less power on 16 ohms. And never go below 8 ohms unless they manufacturer states it’s safe.


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[FuseG4]

You would have to reduce the modulation depth of the flux capacitor to compensate for the mu offset of the phasor reactance.

(It will be fine. Solid state amps are much less touchy about having higher load impedances. It will draw less current for the same output voltage.)

I was gonna say you could run a bypass through the field coil generator if we realign the deflector dish but your idea was better

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, I tried it today. Seems to work fine. Much better-sounding with the Celestion than with the stock Blue Marvel. Thanks, dudes!

[Ewizard]

Solid-state amps tend to do better with higher impedance loads. So if you have a stock speaker of 8ohms, going up to a 16ohm speaker will be of little consequence. The only consequence you will have is a reduction in wattage. A 30-watt amp at 8ohms would drop to about 15 watts with a 16ohm speaker. That halving of power doesn't cost you much though, only about -3db. Most people can barely tell the difference when a 3db change in output is made. And this assumes that your 16ohm speaker has the exact same sensitivity as your 8ohm one. If your 16ohm speaker is 2db more sensitive, you may have the same overall SPL as you did with the 8ohm speaker.

For example: Let's assume your 8ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 96db at 1 watt 1 meter. This means with 30 watts of power it should produce about 111db. Each doubling of power adds +3db to the output of the speaker. So at 1 watt you have 96db and at 2 watts you will have 99db, so on and so forth. If your 16ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 98db at 1 watt 1 meter, at 15 watts it will produce roughly 110db. In this case, your 16ohm speaker would have essentially the same output as the stock 8ohm one.

The big takeaway is that watts do not equal output, the sensitivity of the speaker does. Solid-state amps usually have a minimum impedance that they can operate at. It is mostly because of heat and distortion. The lower you go in impedance the higher the THD of the amp will be. Higher impedance speakers tend to sound better with solid-state amps because it reduces THD and improves the ability of the amplifier to control the movement of the speaker.

[Rex_Rocker]

Solid-state amps tend to do better with higher impedance loads. So if you have a stock speaker of 8ohms, going up to a 16ohm speaker will be of little consequence. The only consequence you will have is a reduction in wattage. A 30-watt amp at 8ohms would drop to about 15 watts with a 16ohm speaker. That halving of power doesn't cost you much though, only about -3db. Most people can barely tell the difference when a 3db change in output is made. And this assumes that your 16ohm speaker has the exact same sensitivity as your 8ohm one. If your 16ohm speaker is 2db more sensitive, you may have the same overall SPL as you did with the 8ohm speaker.

For example: Let's assume your 8ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 96db at 1 watt 1 meter. This means with 30 watts of power it should produce about 111db. Each doubling of power adds +3db to the output of the speaker. So at 1 watt you have 96db and at 2 watts you will have 99db, so on and so forth. If your 16ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 98db at 1 watt 1 meter, at 15 watts it will produce roughly 110db. In this case, your 16ohm speaker would have essentially the same output as the stock 8ohm one.

The big takeaway is that watts do not equal output, the sensitivity of the speaker does. Solid-state amps usually have a minimum impedance that they can operate at. It is mostly because of heat and distortion. The lower you go in impedance the higher the THD of the amp will be. Higher impedance speakers tend to sound better with solid-state amps because it reduces THD and improves the ability of the amplifier to control the movement of the speaker.

Interesting, thank you! Yeah, I didn't even try the amp with the stock speaker, TBH, but the stock Blue Marvel is really light with a small magnet compared to the G12-35XC which supposedly has a sensitivity of 100dB. So yeah, I probably didn't lose much. The amp gets pretty loud regardless.

[ehdwuld]

The transistors will walk out in protest

I agree with all the other posts
little to no difference

I too have used a 16 in place of an 8
And noticed no volume drop

[NegativeEase]

Solid-state amps tend to do better with higher impedance loads. So if you have a stock speaker of 8ohms, going up to a 16ohm speaker will be of little consequence. The only consequence you will have is a reduction in wattage. A 30-watt amp at 8ohms would drop to about 15 watts with a 16ohm speaker. That halving of power doesn't cost you much though, only about -3db. Most people can barely tell the difference when a 3db change in output is made. And this assumes that your 16ohm speaker has the exact same sensitivity as your 8ohm one. If your 16ohm speaker is 2db more sensitive, you may have the same overall SPL as you did with the 8ohm speaker.

For example: Let's assume your 8ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 96db at 1 watt 1 meter. This means with 30 watts of power it should produce about 111db. Each doubling of power adds +3db to the output of the speaker. So at 1 watt you have 96db and at 2 watts you will have 99db, so on and so forth. If your 16ohm speaker has a sensitivity of 98db at 1 watt 1 meter, at 15 watts it will produce roughly 110db. In this case, your 16ohm speaker would have essentially the same output as the stock 8ohm one.

The big takeaway is that watts do not equal output, the sensitivity of the speaker does. Solid-state amps usually have a minimum impedance that they can operate at. It is mostly because of heat and distortion. The lower you go in impedance the higher the THD of the amp will be. Higher impedance speakers tend to sound better with solid-state amps because it reduces THD and improves the ability of the amplifier to control the movement of the speaker.

Excellent post -This is also the important reason to choose the output power of an amp based on the tone at a certain volume you want NOT the overall volume gains you think you will get. The 3db difference between a JCM800 50 Watt and 100 watt is small -but the way each amp breaks up and the headroom is much different -and thats more why you should make the choice.

I think a lot of people think the 100 Watt difference is dramatic probably because the are driving a lot of guitar level INTO the amp as well -because chances if you are using an 100 watt amp you are using gain pedals too -because you like things to the max.

[Securb]

Use this rule of thumb when thinking about amps, speakers, and ohms. If you were pouring water from one glass to another the glass receiving the water (cab) would have to be the same size or bigger than the glass pouring the water (amp). For example, if you pour 4 oz (ohms) into an 8 oz (ohm) glass you are fine. If you pour 16 oz (ohm) into an 8 oz (ohm) glass it will spill over and that is when you run into problems and possibly damage your amp. The cab should be equal or bigger in ohms to the amp.

[Adieu]

I've done it. Didn't notice a drop in volume or anything. It was a Vintage 30, though, in a Crate GT65.

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A V30 is a high efficiency premium speaker and like has more dBs than the OEM stock speaker.

[skyydogg01]

A V30 is a high efficiency premium speaker and like has more dBs than the OEM stock speaker.

I'm aware of this. That's why I pointed it out.

V30 is a very efficient speaker and I doubt the Crate speaker was anywhere near.

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