Speaker Impedance Tonal Difference

  • Thread starter Thread starter FourT6and2
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Scumback Speakers":4zw5l35e said:
It takes one wire and two spade connectors to find out if you like 16 vs 8 better. Wiring diagrams on my site under the FAQ menu if you need one for 2x12 series.

http://www.scumbackspeakers.com/wire.html
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Thanks Man. all my wires are soldered at the connections. Guess it's time to get the soldering iron out again, lol.
 
Go to the various speaker manufacturer websites, Eminence, Jensen, celestion, and look at the frequency plots of the 8 ohm and 16 ohm speakers, and indeed you will find a difference in the plots. From the frequency plots the 16 ohm are more pronounced in the upper mids and highs.

Now with multiple speakers you have other things going on. Series vs Parallel has a bigger influence on the sound. So when you set a 4x12 to 4 or 16 ohms, you are hearing the difference on how the speakers are actually wired and interface with each other than a tone difference between 16 and 8 ohms.
 
baron55":1n1rsypp said:
Go to the various speaker manufacturer websites, Eminence, Jensen, celestion, and look at the frequency plots of the 8 ohm and 16 ohm speakers, and indeed you will find a difference in the plots. From the frequency plots the 16 ohm are more pronounced in the upper mids and highs.

Now with multiple speakers you have other things going on. Series vs Parallel has a bigger influence on the sound. So when you set a 4x12 to 4 or 16 ohms, you are hearing the difference on how the speakers are actually wired and interface with each other than a tone difference between 16 and 8 ohms.
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That's exactly what I was thinking. And I've been told by Celestion that the 8ohm and 16ohm speakers are physically different as well. They have to be in order to yield a different impedance. And the videos I've found are more about an 8ohm speaker wired for 8ohms into an amp set to 8ohms (and same for 16ohms), rather than rewiring a bunch of speakers to yield a different impedance, which as you say, probably gets you another sound altogether.
 
FourT6and2":156m82v0 said:
That's exactly what I was thinking. And I've been told by Celestion that the 8ohm and 16ohm speakers are physically different as well. They have to be in order to yield a different impedance. And the videos I've found are more about an 8ohm speaker wired for 8ohms into an amp set to 8ohms (and same for 16ohms), rather than rewiring a bunch of speakers to yield a different impedance, which as you say, probably gets you another sound altogether.
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Yeah, the difference is the voice coil. 8ohm has thicker gauge wire and less wraps, 16ohm has thinner gauge wire and more wraps.
 
I can't believe you all had me comparing speakers last night. :doh: :gethim: I need a little more time to be sure but I think 8 ohm is slightly more aggressive. More testing will be conducted. :D
 
Gsxrbusa":18axwbt9 said:
I can't believe you all had me comparing speakers last night. :doh: :gethim: I need a little more time to be sure but I think 8 ohm is slightly more aggressive. More testing will be conducted. :D
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I'm in your head, bro. :lol: :LOL:
 
This is just what I need...another tone thing to obsess over.
 
baron55":2mf6po2x said:
Go to the various speaker manufacturer websites, Eminence, Jensen, celestion, and look at the frequency plots of the 8 ohm and 16 ohm speakers, and indeed you will find a difference in the plots. From the frequency plots the 16 ohm are more pronounced in the upper mids and highs.

Now with multiple speakers you have other things going on. Series vs Parallel has a bigger influence on the sound. So when you set a 4x12 to 4 or 16 ohms, you are hearing the difference on how the speakers are actually wired and interface with each other than a tone difference between 16 and 8 ohms.
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Comparing series-parallel to parallel-series wiring in my 4x12 had a much bigger influence on the sound than I would have imagined.
 
There's a definite difference in the inherent voicing of 8 vs 16 ohm speakers (in addition to the different tones produced by the various taps on your output transformer) but neither is better than the other. 8 ohms is great for taming the fizz of some amps while 16 ohms can bring out more sparkle and liveliness in a darker amp.
 
thegame":1sgil1wb said:
There's a definite difference in the inherent voicing of 8 vs 16 ohm speakers (in addition to the different tones produced by the various taps on your output transformer) but neither is better than the other. 8 ohms is great for taming the fizz of some amps while 16 ohms can bring out more sparkle and liveliness in a darker amp.
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Fo' sho'
 
There's a lot of variables once you dig into this. Series/parallel or parallel/series wiring, 8 ohm vs 16 ohm coils, cones, yada yada yada. I'm not going to bore everyone with all the options, but you'd need multiple wiring harnesses, speakers and identical cabinets side by side with a cab switcher (and ohm switching the amp) to make a decision.

Trust me, it's a ton of work, and not for the meek!
 
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