Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

[Jack_TriPpEr]

I'm still learning about matching speakers and amps based on Ohms and Watts, and one Production amp out there has me stumped: the Engl Raider 1x12 is rated at 100 watts but it's speaker (Celestion Vintage 30) is only rated at 60 Watts. Isn't that a significant mismatch? Won't the speaker break?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

if you turn the amp up, then yes. you could pop that speaker

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

if you turn the amp up, then yes. you could pop that speaker

That being the case, I am trying to understand why Engl thought it was 'ok' to choose an underrated speaker. Any ideas?

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

May be it's more likely that Engl misstated the amp's power rating in the specs on their website? Anyone here familiar w these Engl Raider amps?

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

The 100/60 mismatch is significant but keep this in mind. Amplifiers don't produce full power until they are turned up quite a bit. The point on the knob depends a great deal on the input signal from the guitar/fx chain. Low output single coils might not drive the amp to full power until the master is at ...say 8 where a high output humbucker might see full power at around...say 6. Obviously these numbers are just for example. Next thing to keep in mind that the difference in volume out of the speaker between an average of 100 watts and an average of 50 watts isn't very significant. It's only about 3 decibels or "a little bit louder." So as long as long as your not cranking the amp to almost full volume your really not getting close to that 100 watt figure. A speaker in real distress will be pretty obvious and you'll most likely have plenty of warning that you're giving it too much juice and time to turn down. I would have no problem running a 100 watt amp into a 60 watt speaker...just watch the throttle.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

The 100/60 mismatch is significant but keep this in mind. Amplifiers don't produce full power until they are turned up quite a bit. The point on the knob depends a great deal on the input signal from the guitar/fx chain. Low output single coils might not drive the amp to full power until the master is at ...say 8 where a high output humbucker might see full power at around...say 6. Obviously these numbers are just for example. Next thing to keep in mind that the difference in volume out of the speaker between an average of 100 watts and an average of 50 watts isn't very significant. It's only about 3 decibels or "a little bit louder." So as long as long as your not cranking the amp to almost full volume your really not getting close to that 100 watt figure. A speaker in real distress will be pretty obvious and you'll most likely have plenty of warning that you're giving it too much juice and time to turn down. I would have no problem running a 100 watt amp into a 60 watt speaker...just watch the throttle.

Thanks, some good points.

This also brings to mind a question about speaker break-up. Some players drive their speaker hard enough to get it to distort but as you said, not to the level of obvious distress. Sounds like this amp is designed to accommodate that, if not encourage it. My question is, doesn't that shorten the lifespan of the speaker? Is their general rule of thumb as to how much? If I can do this and still get five years out of the speaker, I would consider it. One of my favorite thrash guitar tones is Metallica ' s KEA album and I have read that part of that sound is they drove those speakers to breakup.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

You will likely never utilize all of that amps 100 watts. Also, Celestion rates their speakers conservatively. The V30 can handle more than 60 watts. I cant say exactly how much, but a decent amount. Somewhere between an additional 10-20 watts, at the least.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Speaker/watts theory: Engl Raider

Speakers are mostly rated in R.M.S. values. This equalls around 60% of their Peak capabilities. A 60 Watt speaker should be able to handle peaks of around a 100 watts.