more speaker selection...

[danglybanger]

something occured to me:

Since solid state amps are less loud than valves, would you need to use a lower wattage rated speaker to get the same headroom characteristics as a valve amp?

For example, say you got a 75 watt amp that should equal 30 tube amps or so... should you use a speaker rated for 75 or more watts, or would you be fine with settling for one with 30 watts? Or is this all independant of loudness

thanks

 

[Rich_S]

Re: more speaker selection...

You need 75 watts (or more) worth of speakers.

Watts is watts. The reason we say that tube amps are louder is that they can generate more than rated power and still sound good. Push a 30-watt solid state amp to the limit and it will put out 30 watts and sound like poo-poo kaa-kaa. Push a Vox AC30 to the limit and it will be at its sweet spot.

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: more speaker selection...

Tubes also put out/run on a higher voltage...speakers will just make it sound louder, it won't really do much to headroom unless your speaker has early breakup, then I guess having a slow-breakup speaker will "increase" the "headroom" by keeping the "sound" "cleaner" for a longer range of the volume control.