Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

[Breogan]

Hi there...

I have recently modded my Engl thunder 50 with this EL84 adaptors (it was 6L6). They reduce the wattage of the amp and change it to Class A, now the total wattage it's about 18 watts.

The new tone it's smoother and softer. I like it very much but still it's too loud for home aplications. I still need to crank it a bit to get decent tones. I think the problem it's that the speaker it's a Celestion Silver Series V12-80 (80 watts, 97db). Being 80 watts reated needs a bit of power to be moved and it's 97db sensitivity makes it a quite loud speaker.

Can you recomend me a speaker with a low wattage rated and a low sensitivity?

Thanks!

I was thinking in this Jensen speakers...

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

Power handling and sensitivity have nothing to do with each other. Just look for low sensitivity. Sorry I can't recommend a particular speaker.

Edit: Unless your looking for a sound characteristic that you can only get out of a low wattage type speaker.

 

[Breogan]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

Power handling and sensitivity have nothing to do with each other. Just look for low sensitivity. Sorry I can't recommend a particular speaker.

I know!! . But, do you think a high rated speaker (say 100W) sounds good when you put 5watts on it? I guess you have to put some power on it to make it move. That's what logic tells me but I could be wrong!!!

I guess i am looking for a decent sounding speaker...

 

[Breogan]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

Another posibility was ussing the Celestion G12H. People talks really high about this speakers. The volume will go up for sure but may be the low one will be better too.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

I just did a little checking and Jensen makes quite a few low dB 12's

P12R,=93.6
P12Q=96.1
MOD12-35=95.6
MOD12-50=94.3
C12R=93.8

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

I can imagine Celestion Blue's to be a good speaker for your application.

It has a low sensitivity, and is rated at only 15 watts

Cheers,
-Erlend

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

In your application, the wattage rating will determine how soon the speaker will break up. A Celestion Blue wil break up early with 18 watts driving it, and add its own distortion character to that of the amp. A G12H30 will break up slightly less, but still break up. Obviously, a 100 watt JBL won't break up at all at 18 watts. This is mostly a matter of taste; some people like speaker break-up, some like clean speakers.

The sensitivity measures the efficiency of the speaker; how much sound you get per watt of power. "Good" speakers tend to be efficient. The Blue and the G12H30 are both up in the high 90's. I think a couple of the new Eminence Patriot/Red Coat series are over 100 dB/watt.

You might want to look for a 10" for home use. 10's are in general less efficient that 12's.

Or, buy an attenuator. The good news is that with only 18 watts to deal with, attenuators are reatively cheap. I have a Weber MiniMASS ($75) on my 18 Watter-ish clone and it sounds pretty good. Not as good as cranked, but it's a good compromise. It gives a lot more volume reduction that the 3 or 4 dB you'll get by switching to a less-efficient speaker.

 

[Breogan]

Re: Good 12' speaker for LOW VOLUME?

Thanks guys!

I'm yet to know which is better... A high sensitivity speaker would give a better tone on every level... But would that be good even at room levels? On the other hand a low sensitivity speaker would help the amp to be cranked a bit more and the overall tone would be better.

Which it's better?