help me understand how speaker wattage capacity and amp wattage interact

[bolero]

hahaha!

[Steiner]

17 hours ago, kbp810 said:

Apparently that was me… but it wasn’t I who disagreed with you, it was my big dumb clumsy scrolling thumb that took the low road there. 
 

My apologies; was not intentional. This has been rectified and replaced with a much more appropriate up vote; my fingers will be punished to the fullest extent of whatever my imagination can come up with for a witty and clever finger specific punishments. 
 

My thumbs laugh in the face of truth and physics. 

For having made such a silly, ridiculous error you must remove the offending finger, preferably at the shoulder.  Do not concern yourself with such an action, ‘Tis but a flesh wound.
Now go away or I shall taunt you some more.

[kbp810]

41 minutes ago, Steiner said:

For having made such a silly, ridiculous error you must remove the offending finger, preferably at the shoulder.  Do not concern yourself with such an action, ‘Tis but a flesh wound.
Now go away or I shall taunt you some more.

Thanks Steiner, 

That's just the kind of harsh talk and punishment that I ni, ni, kneeded. Now off to find a nice shrubbery to appease the admin. 

[DetroitBlues]

On 3/22/2025 at 5:33 PM, TalismanRich said:

Something like the Celestion Peacekeeper handles 50W but only puts out 86dB for 1 watt of power.   A Vintage 30 will handle 60W and puts out 100dB for that same single watt.

 

 

Have you tried that yet?  It seems relatively new which may explain why I really haven't seen anyone talk about it.

[rwinking]

On 4/5/2025 at 6:10 PM, bolero said:

why do 4x12 cabs sound louder than what? a 1x12? seriously?

I was asking a serious question and it wasn't very nice of you to answer in that manner.

 

[bolero]

4 hours ago, rwinking said:

I was asking a serious question and it wasn't very nice of you to answer in that manner.

 

I was being serious. If you are offended that isn't my fault, it wasn't my intention either.

You are reading far too much into that statement. I would have said exactly the same thing to any friend I was having that discussion with.

Not only that, but I went to the effort of additional details that likely affect your perception of sound & volume.

You are welcome.

[TalismanRich]

4 hours ago, rwinking said:

I was asking a serious question and it wasn't very nice of you to answer in that manner.

 

There are loads of discussion threads that "debate" the concept.   What Bolero said is part of the equation.   The difference in cabinet size will alter the frequency response of the system, which might affect how you perceive the sound.

Mathematically, if you put 1 watt into a 100dB efficient speaker,  you get 100dB.   If you put 1 watt into 4 100dB speakers wired to the same impedance,  each speaker will get 0.25 watts.   Thus each speaker will be putting out 94dB (3dB for halving the power, 3dB for halving THAT power.)   But then you had 4 times that 94dB and you get back to 100dB.   The difference will be more in tonal balance that actual sound intensity, which might be measured at 1 frequency. 

I've seen discussions where they say the increase was larger with 2 speakers rather than one, but the problem with this is that the impedance won't be the same between a single and a dual speaker setup. If you have a pair of 8 ohm speakers, and only use one, it's 8 ohms.  If you add the second in parallel, it's now 4 ohms, so your power usage is different at the "same setting".    Put them in series and you have 16 ohms, which could lower your output.

When you use a 4x cabinet, with two in series and the series in parallel, the impedance can be the same as a single speaker.  Identical power is distributed evenly.  

Jim Lill did a Youtube video where he compared lots of difference cab configurations and how it affected the sound.   It may not change the dB reading but it changes the perception of the sound.

[rwinking]

I did not have a problem with the info. It was the "Are you serious?" part of the response.

If I were asked a question about why a Cmin7#11 chord resolves into an F7+11 I would give a polite answer and not "Are you serious?" (Which has an implication.....) followed by the answer.

I was raised that there are no dumb questions but plenty of dumb insensitive answers to good questions.

I know a butt load of stuff about music and guitar playing and not ashamed to admit very little about the electronics of guitar playing.

You're welcome.

 

[Steiner]

10 hours ago, kbp810 said:

Thanks Steiner, 

That's just the kind of harsh talk and punishment that I ni, ni, kneeded. Now off to find a nice shrubbery to appease the admin. 

Make it a nice one.  Not too big or ostentatious 

[Anthony]

Ni!!

[Steiner]

6 hours ago, rwinking said:

I was asking a serious question and it wasn't very nice of you to answer in that manner.

 

And he continued on to answer such a basic question.  Every guitar player I interact with consider your query fundamental.  It has been addressed here multiple times which is precisely why I wholeheartedly agree with bolero’s frustrations.

Sit back, take a deep breath and consider thanking him for sharing his knowledge and experiences.  You got far more than you paid for.

[rwinking]

Oh Okay.....Thanks so much Bolero....I was totally wrong about you.