Speaker/s project - for amplifier.

[kr236rk]

Thanks.

a) How could I combine the sound of the woofer & tweeter please, so that I had one single source of sound coming from the cabinet? At the moment, the speakers split the sound from high to low frequency.

b) What would be an ideal single speaker type, to take a guitar through an amplifier please - how would I identify it?

 

[Audioguru]

Electric guitars make their own unique sound with electronics that produces severe distortion like a buzzer but the speaker cuts the high frequencies and some midrange frequencies but boosts the upper midrange frequencies and also cuts the bass frequencies.
I do not know if your speaker sounded like that or if that is what you want.

I have seen some speakers that are called "2-way". But the tweeter is simply the photo of a real tweeter.

 

[kr236rk]

Thanks.

If I obtain a dedicated 16 ohm guitar cab speaker, how could I use it in my current set-up, please?

I'd need to remove the current woofer-speaker & tweeter.

That would leave me with the jack socket assembly and the circuit board.

Do I keep the circuit board attached, or lose it - I can't see that it would be serving any purpose with the tweeter gone from it?

 

[Audioguru]

16 ohm speakers were used 60 years ago with vacuum tube amplifiers. A modern transistors amplifier makes only half the power into 16 ohms as it makes into 8 ohms and makes double the power into 4 ohms as it makes into 8 ohms.
Two 16 ohm speakers in parallel make 8 ohms.

You do not need the circuit board if you use a single speaker that does not have a tweeter.

 

[kr236rk]

Thanks. I use tubes for a better sound, transistors tend to give a dryer sound to my ear. The main drawback for me with tubes is that they burn out. I use a lot of 'gain' which probably increases the burn-out. So when I practice I use a solid state amp; when I want a good sound, I use a tube amp.

"Two 16 ohm speakers in parallel make 8 ohms." I noticed that, you think you're getting twice the sound but in fact it is down 50% in each speaker.

 

[Audioguru]

A tubes amplifier has an output transformer that matches the high impedance output of the tubes to the total speaker impedance.
Then an 8 ohm speaker on the 8 ohm 100W output gets the full power of 100W but two 16 ohm speakers in parallel each get 50W as you say. The transformer produces poor low and high frequency response and poor speaker resonance damping.

A solid state amplifier produces an extremely low output impedance for excellent speaker resonance damping and good low and high frequency response. If it produces 100W into 8 ohms then it produces 50W each into two 16 ohm speakers like the tubes amplifier. If not overloaded by too much current or too much heating then it can produce almost 200W into 4 ohms. I had a car amplifier that was driving 2 ohm speakers for lots of power.

 

[kr236rk]

Will update on the DIY cabinet speaker project - will need a new 16 ohm speaker. Am not good at soldering, might use micro 'alligator clips' instead.

 

[WHONOES]

I use a tweeter in my guitar speaker and amp, all home brewed. I use 2 X 10" Celestions along with a dynamic horn tweeter. I get exactly the sound that I want from my Strat.

 

[kr236rk]

Am experimenting with feedback, I want all the sound coming from one point.

 

[WHONOES]

You will get feedback from a two speaker system, it doesn't have to be a point source The addition of a tweeter will make your system sound sharper.

 

[Audioguru]

You cannot have all sound coming from one point because a woofer cannot tweet and a tweeter cannot woof.
If you use a two-way speaker with the tweeter mounted in the woofer cone or with an additional whizzer cone then phase shifts will cause acoustical feedback problems. Reflections of sound from the floor, walls or ceiling also cause acoustical feedback.

 

[kr236rk]

I want all my sound coming from a single speaker, which will give me a control. I am well aware that a woofer-tweeter arrangement will also deliver feedback - any speaker set-up can feedback under certain conditions.

 

[VenomBallistics]

The first guitar amps used the same drivers as PA speakers, because that's really all there was.
Don't overthink this.
The worst thing that can happen is it'll suck.
On the far end of the spectrum of possibilities, you get groupies.....
But then, not all groupies are cute .... We take our chances

 

[kr236rk]

it's just an experiment

 

[Audioguru]

Here is the frequency response curve of a cheap 8" PA speaker.
It has bass that resonates at about 150Hz.
Its midrange is faint.
Its upper mids are too loud (cone breakup) and shriek.
Its highs are poor.

It will probably cause acoustical feedback at 2kHz to 5kHz but if the treble tone control is turned down then the feedback will be at 150Hz or 1kHz.

 

[kr236rk]

Thanks - would be looking for a dedicated guitar speaker of 16 ohms, 10-12".

 

[VenomBallistics]

Thanks - would be looking for a dedicated guitar speaker of 16 ohms, 10-12".

they exist. Kinda spendy though. Everything is north of $100 USD ... a bit lofty in the context of "try and see" and "just learning".
Speaker coloration in this segment of audio is enormous and wildly varied. Research sound clips before investing.

 

[Audioguru]

Why do you want 16 ohms? Most speakers today are 8 ohms and cars use 4 or 2 ohms for lots of power when the amplifier is powered from 13V.

I looked at the specs of 10" "Eminence" guitar speakers. They are only 8 ohms. They have the same "awful" frequency response as other guitar speakers and as I showed before. Some "replacement" guitar speakers are made as 16 ohms to replace worn out speakers that are 60 years old.

 

[kr236rk]

My amp powers a 16 ohm speaker or two 8 ohm speakers. I'd pick up a good second hand guitar speaker on the Bay.