speaker resistance for Fender Stage 160.

[premier]

Hi all, New here and not a big electriclal expert, although I do have some experience with electrical devices. I have a solid state Fender Stage 160 DSP amp with 2 Celestion speakers that are rated at 8 ohms each. These speakers have been damaged. The cavities (it has 2 outlets) for the wiring cables that goes to the speakers says 4 ohms total. These wire/cables go directly to each speaker individually. I have an oportunity to get two 12in. Celestion speakers at a reasonable price but they are 4 ohms each. Can these be installed into my amp? If not is there a way to modify it to work? I only use this amp at home for personal use. I thank you for your advice.

[premier]

Wow! This place had the answer already in its archives. I looked and searched but did not search the correct titles. When I just checked back to see if there was any response the site had done the search for me and I found an answer that was not originally found by me. I do appologize for this duplication on this issue.

[Enzo]

OK, so you understand that two 4 ohms speakers cannot make 4 ohms total. it can either make 2 ohms or 8 ohms, depending upon wiring scheme.

[premier]

Well, as the thread that I was refered to said, and it was you that had the answer by the way, thanks for that, anyway, as I understand your answer, the 4 ohm speakers would give me 160w while the 8 ohm would be 100w. And so on. This amp has 2 speaker out jacks and each runs to its own speaker. That is where the statement about 4 ohms minimum was written on this amp. So, to recap, as I read your answer on the other thread, I should be able to use the 4 ohm speakers in my amp? Do I have that correct? And thanks for your response. Seems like you are the guru here. Having a look around I find your help everywhere.

Yes I do understand the series and parallel adding or deviding of the speaker impedance. Since there are 2 output jacks would my result be 4 ohms on each of the output terminals instead of the 8ohms it now has or is there something going on inside that would change that?

[premier]

Opps. Sorry, I know that I should have provided the link to the thread in question. Here it is. http://music-electronics-forum.com/t19070/ How dumb of me to omit that...

[tboy]

Here's the relevant quote from the manual:

PARALLEL SPEAKER OUTPUTS - Connect a single 8Ω speaker (internal or external) to the MAIN SPKR jack. Connect an additional 8Ω speaker (internal or external) to the EXT. SPKR jack. 4Ω minimum total.

[premier]

Well, I understand the parallel/series thing. What I did not know was if the amps outputs connections were from the same source inside the amp. Looking at the schematic it shows the 100 head only as parallel but it was the 160DSP that I have that had me questioning the compatability. It would appear that there really is no way that the 4 ohm speakers will work just using the present output connections. Guess it's on to looking for the orignal 8 ohm speakers or having the ones I have reconed. Thanks guys.

[Steve Conner]

You can use the 4 ohm speakers, just connect them in series and plug the resulting combination into one of the jacks.

The amp will be loaded with 8 ohms, so you'll get nearer 100 watts than 160. But maybe the 160 was how the originals got "damaged".

Now, as far as I know, Fender amps never come with Celestion speakers. They're either Jensens or Fender's own "Special Design" ones which are made by Eminence. So maybe a previous owner fitted them and they were underpowered?

[premier]

Well, Actually, this was a new European amp that was never shipped to Europe. Fender ran screwdrivers through both speakers. They are the original speakers to the amp. I just rewired the power supply for 110 from the 220 it was set to. These speakers work after patching them. It just has a little buzz at higher levels. So, when these turned up I just thought maybe a replacement was due. The ones in it now are Celestions. These that I can get are exact looking in every way but the omh rating is 4 rather than the 8ohm in it now. Just thought that I could satisfy my desire for it to have a good set of speakers in it. Now if Steve's suggestion would work that might be an option. I don't play where I need all that power. I just play for personal pleasure and to keep my mind at work as well as my hands... Thanks Steve.

[premier]

I take it that this is what you guys are referng to? Leaving the second output jack unused will not cause me any troubles?

Thanks for bearing with me on this. While I understand what is being said I just want to be sure that I am correct in my understanding. I'd sure hate damaging my amp.

[Steve Conner]

Yeah, something like that

The only thing you can do wrong is wire the speakers out of phase, then it'll sound crap. But you've drawn them phased correctly.

[premier]

Thanks Steve, perhaps I'll give it a go. Thanks again everyong. I really do appreciate the help.