I have [1] car speaker...it's a 6"x9"_8-way_ NT POWER _ NT-6998P... it says it's 4 ohm IMPEDANCE _ Peak Power Per Dual Speakers= 1000-W, so I'm assuming that's 500-W per speaker, correct?...
my question is, can I make a small speaker cabinet with this speaker to use with a CRATE G1600XL 160-W_RMS @ 4 OHMS...2 OHMS MINIMUM TOTAL LOAD... amp head for testing while working on head?... if so, should all I need is to build small cabinet for speaker with an input jack to plug cable from amp head into?...
Thanks
my question is, can I make a small speaker cabinet with this speaker to use with a CRATE G1600XL 160-W_RMS @ 4 OHMS...2 OHMS MINIMUM TOTAL LOAD... amp head for testing while working on head?... if so, should all I need is to build small cabinet for speaker with an input jack to plug cable from amp head into?...
Thanks
I used 6X9 car speakers in guitar amps years ago. The results vary with the players sound preferences, the volume level, and the speaker in question's quality. Acoustic even put 6X9 speakers in some of their guitar and PA amps back in the late 60's and early 70's.
First off ANY speaker, amp or other device rated in "peak power" is total BS. The BS quotient is doubled for automotive electronics. I would be very surprised if 160 Watts RMS didn't set the voice coil on fire.
When a voice coil fails it usually gives audible warning, a raspy sound as the windings come loose, then fails to an open circuit as the wire burns out. This can cause severe damage to a tube amp, but generally doesn't harm a solid state amp. The car speaker was not meant to handle the dynamic range of an uncompressed guitar amp and it may also fail physically. The voice coil can rip away from the cone, or the cone can get damaged at the point of attachment. I blew several "250 watt" car speakers with a 30 watt tube amp. Some lived for months eventually suffering from cone destruction, others lasted a few minutes. I eventually found some cheap "Audiovox" brand 6X9's that were about $19 a pair at Kmart that offered a reasonable clean tone, and didn't blow when two of them were used in a 30 watt tube amp. This was about 20 years ago.
You can probably use the speaker for testing, as long as you keep the volume levels reasonable. All of my amps that used car speakers were tube amps in the 10 to 30 watt range. The sound they made were favored by rhythm and acoustic players. You won't get a screaming metal lead tone out of them without blowing them up.
My recommendation, If you are going to spend the time and money to build a cabinet, buy some cheap speakers that will do the job:
Use two of these per cabinet. I wired them in parallel for a 4 ohm load, and I made two cabinets. I added a bullet tweeter crossed over with a 3 uF mylar cap to provide some sparkle. I mounted the speakers in a 1 cubic foot cabinet made of half inch plywood and used a 2 inch by 3 inch square port. I made two identical cabinets. They are clean enough to play electric piano through at reasonable volumes ( a 2 X 50 watts class D amp at half volume) and sound cool when fed by a Marshall super lead cranked to 11 (both cabinets wired in series for 8 ohms).
The cabinet is tuned to 70 Hz and is reasonably flat from 70 Hz up. It's good enough to use as a second set of monitors in my home studio when I want to get louder than my Yamaha's will go. I don't recomend using this setup to play bass at anything above bedroom levels. You will rip the cones out of them due to Xmass limitations.
Dayton Audio PA165-8 6" PA Driver Speaker | 295-015
I made them in a high school wood shop about a year ago. They are still working out better than I expected. This is a camera phone picture taken before the tweeters and grills were installed.
First off ANY speaker, amp or other device rated in "peak power" is total BS. The BS quotient is doubled for automotive electronics. I would be very surprised if 160 Watts RMS didn't set the voice coil on fire.
When a voice coil fails it usually gives audible warning, a raspy sound as the windings come loose, then fails to an open circuit as the wire burns out. This can cause severe damage to a tube amp, but generally doesn't harm a solid state amp. The car speaker was not meant to handle the dynamic range of an uncompressed guitar amp and it may also fail physically. The voice coil can rip away from the cone, or the cone can get damaged at the point of attachment. I blew several "250 watt" car speakers with a 30 watt tube amp. Some lived for months eventually suffering from cone destruction, others lasted a few minutes. I eventually found some cheap "Audiovox" brand 6X9's that were about $19 a pair at Kmart that offered a reasonable clean tone, and didn't blow when two of them were used in a 30 watt tube amp. This was about 20 years ago.
You can probably use the speaker for testing, as long as you keep the volume levels reasonable. All of my amps that used car speakers were tube amps in the 10 to 30 watt range. The sound they made were favored by rhythm and acoustic players. You won't get a screaming metal lead tone out of them without blowing them up.
My recommendation, If you are going to spend the time and money to build a cabinet, buy some cheap speakers that will do the job:
Use two of these per cabinet. I wired them in parallel for a 4 ohm load, and I made two cabinets. I added a bullet tweeter crossed over with a 3 uF mylar cap to provide some sparkle. I mounted the speakers in a 1 cubic foot cabinet made of half inch plywood and used a 2 inch by 3 inch square port. I made two identical cabinets. They are clean enough to play electric piano through at reasonable volumes ( a 2 X 50 watts class D amp at half volume) and sound cool when fed by a Marshall super lead cranked to 11 (both cabinets wired in series for 8 ohms).
The cabinet is tuned to 70 Hz and is reasonably flat from 70 Hz up. It's good enough to use as a second set of monitors in my home studio when I want to get louder than my Yamaha's will go. I don't recomend using this setup to play bass at anything above bedroom levels. You will rip the cones out of them due to Xmass limitations.
Dayton Audio PA165-8 6" PA Driver Speaker | 295-015
I made them in a high school wood shop about a year ago. They are still working out better than I expected. This is a camera phone picture taken before the tweeters and grills were installed.
Attachments
I'm not looking for anything but to put this one speaker in a box for testing the Crate G1600XL. I'm just wanting to be sure it won't mess amp head up. It's not going to be at loud levels [volume/gain/etc]. The Crate has a problem with volume going in and out at low to mid volume. I have a previous post on that. What the problem is, I don't know yet. Jacks, I don't know...Capacitor, I don't know...diode, I don't know...that's yet to be determined. I do know I don't want to carry Crate speaker cabinet up and down the stairs [wife won't let me keep it in kitchen :-( ...] just to test amp while I work on it. That's why I wanted to know about making this small cabinet with this speaker that I had laying around.
yes, the small speaker will work, just have the discipline not to turn it up loud.
As tubelab pointed out, all those peak super power mega whatever are marketing BS.
Here is my take on peak power. You have a 1000 pound piano. try lifting it, you can;t. Now you find the toe of your boot caught under the piano and you are stuck. if you yank upwards as hard as you can, the piano will budge just enough to pull your toe out. So your peak lifting power is 1000 pounds. is that a useful or meaningful stat? No.
As tubelab pointed out, all those peak super power mega whatever are marketing BS.
Here is my take on peak power. You have a 1000 pound piano. try lifting it, you can;t. Now you find the toe of your boot caught under the piano and you are stuck. if you yank upwards as hard as you can, the piano will budge just enough to pull your toe out. So your peak lifting power is 1000 pounds. is that a useful or meaningful stat? No.
Thanks guys...one more thing please...will it be ok to cut one end off a guitar to amp cable and put electrical connectors on that end to put on speaker like you would do in a car, and have the other end of cable with original end to plug into speaker jack on amp head?
[well, 2 things]
and if I do cut one end off cable for speaker, which wire of cable is + and which is - so I don't mix them up...or would it hurt anything?
[well, 2 things]
and if I do cut one end off cable for speaker, which wire of cable is + and which is - so I don't mix them up...or would it hurt anything?
Attachments
I would be seriously worried using a guitar cord for a speaker cord, they can NOT handle that type of use.
Conductor gauge is far to low.
Hi,
True, guitar leads make very poor speaker leads, but
for testing into a small speaker they are adequate.
Mains 5A twinflex with a 1/4 jacks is a much better
general speaker lead solution than guitar cables.
rgds, sreten.
I agree with the rest, car speakers have completely imaginary inflated ratings - you could probably easily destroy the speakers with a 160W guitar amp.
They also aren't likely to sound very good, and you'll probably need to run them fairly hard to get decent volume.
Speaker cables/wiring.
This is not rocket science.
A 160 Watt Amp into 4 Ohms.
=> Current squared x impedance = 160 Watts.
Divide both sides by the impedance (4 Ohms)
e=> Current Squared = 40
Therefore Current = 6.3 Amps RMS
From common wire sizes use 16 AWG wires minimum.
A guitar cable is NOT suitable for use as a speaker cable.
Cheers,
Ian
This is not rocket science.
A 160 Watt Amp into 4 Ohms.
=> Current squared x impedance = 160 Watts.
Divide both sides by the impedance (4 Ohms)
e=> Current Squared = 40
Therefore Current = 6.3 Amps RMS
From common wire sizes use 16 AWG wires minimum.
A guitar cable is NOT suitable for use as a speaker cable.
Cheers,
Ian
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