Does a low wattage speaker = to a better low volume tone?

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jinch0

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Ok i sold the v30 's of my mesa cab i'm looking at greenbacks or green beret's to replace them. I play mostly at home but i can crank the amp(good neighbors) Does having low watts speakers translates in to a better low or bedroom volume tone? If not i'm going with creambacks or wgs invaders. Thanks!!!!
 
The best low wattage speakers are home stereo speakers.

You can play back Hendrix, Van Halen, EJ at very low volume and sounds good.

Years ago in the 80s I used a Champ with an attenuator into a Technics Stereo Speaker and it recorded large at very low volume , tweeters normally will need to be disconnected but the smaller magnets and more sensitive
Cones are made for low wattage , high sensitivity, the opposite of Guitar Speakers.

And now an ADA MP1 into FX and Cab Sims and little Speakers, Monitors when I start Serious Recording.
 
It's not wattage that matters for this. It's sensitivity/efficiency. Look at those ratings for speakers. At a given wattage/power level, more sensitive/efficient speakers will be louder. So you can turn up your amp marginally higher with G12M speakers than with V30 speakers without increasing the overall volume because the G12M is significantly less efficient than the V30.
 
cardinal":3ctehabm said:
It's not wattage that matters for this. It's sensitivity/efficiency. Look at those ratings for speakers. At a given wattage/power level, more sensitive/efficient speakers will be louder. So you can turn up your amp marginally higher with G12M speakers than with V30 speakers without increasing the overall volume because the G12M is significantly less efficient than the V30.
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Correct answer. :thumbsup:
 
Watt and tone are very different things. Many people confuse the two.
 
jinch0":1mrztu75 said:
Ok i sold the v30 's of my mesa cab i'm looking at greenbacks or green beret's to replace them. I play mostly at home but i can crank the amp(good neighbors) Does having low watts speakers translates in to a better low or bedroom volume tone? If not i'm going with creambacks or wgs invaders. Thanks!!!!
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As one of the posters wrote, the speaker's sensitivity rating is what matters when you want to lower your amps overall volume.
"Tone" is a different considertion when comparing speakers.
Tone can be affected by volume due to how our ears perceive the various frequencies, but that is a different topic altogether.

For your question, yes you can lower your amps overall volume by using less efficient speakers.
And, depending on the speakers quality your tone may improve or get worse, but that's a matter of the speakers capability.

To get a noticeable drop on volume level you need a speaker that has at least a 3db lower sensitivity compared to the speaker you now have.
A 3db difference is a noticeable difference in human hearing.
Note, it's not a doubling or halving difference, but a noticeable one that anyone should be able to notice.

For example, if you have a speaker rated at 90db efficiency, then you will get 90db of volume level with 1 watt of power measured at 1 meter away.
A speaker rated at 87db, then you get 87db at 1 watt at 1 meter.
A speaker rated at 93db, then you get 93db at 1 watt at 1 meter.
Basically, lower rated efficiency will be quieter, and higher will be louder from where you started.

The same 3db difference volume occurs with amp power.
Using a 90db rated speaker with a 1 watt amp will give you 90db at 1 meter.
Using a 2 watt amp with the same speaker will produce a 93db volume level.
Using a .5 watt amp will same speaker will produce 87db volume level.

If you've got a 50 watt amp and you want it to produce the volume level of a 25 watt amp, then decrease the speaker efficiency by 3db.
If you decrease the speaker efficiency by another 3db, then the volume level drops to an amp power of 12.5 watts.
Another 3db decrease and volume level drops to an amp power of 6.25 watts.
Basically, a 3db decrease in speaker efficiency is the same as halving the power.

This is why a 100 watt amp is noticeably louder than a 50 watt amp when running into the same speaker/s.
To get a noticeably louder volume compared to a 100 watt amp you would need a 200 watt amp.
This is also why a 50 watt amp is not really noticeably louder than a 30 watt amp.

If you are trying to lower your overall volume, then get a speaker that is rated at least -3db or more than the speaker you currently have.
 
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