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Topic: Speaker wattage vs. amp wattage |
Joe Alterio
From:
Irvington, Indiana
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Posted 3 May 2004 2:51 pm |
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Hi all,
I just picked up a Session 400 (200 watts) with the original JBL speaker.....unfortunately, the JBL was blown and I brought it to Weber to get it fixed up. Ted Weber told me that the JBL is really only able to handle 50 watts or so, not the 200 watts that the amp CAN put out.
Sooo.....my question is this. Is this typical of all amps? For example...the Nashville 1000 that is rated 300 watts....does the Black Widow it comes with have a power rating of much less than 300 watts?
Back to the Session 400.....why would Peavey use a speaker that can only handle a fraction of the total watts that the amp can deliver? A search on the Forum shows that a lot of these JBLs were blown...
Joe |
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Bill Terry
From:
Bastrop, TX
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Posted 3 May 2004 2:55 pm
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| Quote: |
| Back to the Session 400.....why would Peavey use a speaker that can only handle a fraction of the total watts that the amp can deliver? A search on the Forum shows that a lot of these JBLs were blown... |
I worked at a Peavey dealer during those years and can confirm the rapid death of a lot of JBLs in those early Session 400s. I expect that was one more reason that Peavey decided to build their own speakers (BWs). I suppose JBLs were about as good as was available at the time. Mike Brown could probably say for sure.
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C Dixon
From:
Duluth, GA USA
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Posted 3 May 2004 3:16 pm
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A speaker (or total speaker wattage if more than one) should have the same rating as the amp's rating. Anything less, and it is sure to fail, UNLESS the player plays at moderate levels.
I find it hard to believe Peavey or any amp manufacturer would put a speaker in an amp that had a power rating less than the amp's max power rating.
Keep in mind an amp ONLY puts out its rated wattage when it is driven to maximum power. Most of the time amps are operated below maximum. Just for the record, if an amp is on and nothing is playing thru it at the moment, there is Zero wattage being put out.
carl |
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Roger Kelly
From:
Bristol,Tennessee
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 3 May 2004 5:50 pm
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Joe, let's say it's typical of most amps. Most amps will put out much more than their rated RMS power when overdriven. This, coupled with the fact that speakers aren't designed to run at full power over a combination of frequencies, means that most any speaker can, and will fail if it's asked to do too much.
Speakers can be designed to handle extreme power, but their efficiency and tone usually suffer. I really have to laugh when I read some literature that rates a 10" subwoofer (used in cars) at 600 watts. It's easy to get "numbers", but getting a good sound is something else. The old "D" series JBL's had tone to die for, but they also had a low efficiency which led people to demand more from the speaker (output-wise) than it was designed for. Feeding one of these babies more than 50-75 watts is just asking for trouble!
Almost any device, from a rubber-band to a fighter plane, will fail if you try to force it to do more than it's designed to do. People, who do like I used to do, and repeatedly "push the limits" of their gear must learn to deal with the resulting failures. |
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Mike Brown
From:
Meridian, Mississippi USA
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Posted 4 May 2004 5:34 am
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Hartley Peavey told me the whole story about our use of JBL speakers early on in the Session 400 amp. After several JBL failures when the Session 400 amp was introduced, our engineers called JBL to inquire about the failures. They were told that "steel guitarists" don't play at high volume levels and didn't need the power(200 watts) that the Session produced". Thus, the birth of the Peavey Black Widow.
I imagine that they have adapted to the marketplace now. True story.
Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation |
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Joe Alterio
From:
Irvington, Indiana
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Posted 4 May 2004 7:34 am
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Thanks for that bit of history, Mike 
Is the BW used in the N1000 truly a 300 watt speaker, or is the continuous power rated at a lesser wattage? Are older Black Widows rated at different wattages than the ones Peavey makes today?
Joe |
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