Did SUNN manufacture speakers?

[Randall]

Have a friend who is convinced from his internet reading that he has a SUNN 6x10 cab loaded with mysterious 6 ohm alnicos manufactured by SUNN. I find this hard to believe, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Someone told him these measure 5.6 ohms, so that means they are not 8 ohm speakers, but closer to 6 ohms, and that's why they do.

Help me out here.

[The Dude]

To my knowledge, Sunn never made their own drivers. They just put a Sunn sticker on "insert random manufacturer here" drivers. A picture of the speakers or some numbers off of them might help us identify them.

[The Dude]

Hey, looks like I was wrong! Here's a thread regarding Sunn built speakers apparently from someone who worked there. I've not seen them- or I did and didn't notice.

Model 10 PA Speakers

[Randall]

Here it is:

[The Dude]

Well, the first thing I notice is that is says 8 ohms right on the sticker.

My educated guess. Eminence 10" 8 ohm alnico guitar speaker.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Have a friend who is convinced from his internet reading that he has a SUNN 6x10 cab loaded with mysterious 6 ohm alnicos manufactured by SUNN.

Not likely. What is more likely, like hundreds of amp makers, SUNN put their sticker on the back of some speaker that may or may not have been specially made for them by one of the "usual suspects", back then CTS.

FWIW there are 8 ohm VC's that typically measure 5.6 ohms. Lots of EV speakers for instance.

A photo or 2, and a reading of any numbers/letters on the frame would give us some clues.

edit: Had a read at the link. Sunn had its own speaker & cab plant in Kentucky, who knew? By coincidence Eminence set up shop in Kentucky too. Wonder if there's any link between CTS - Eminence - Sunn. That's a mighty big looking Alnico mag rig on the back of that 10", could be a very good speaker. If your ears are happy, that's what counts. Wallet too, the price was right!

[Randall]

Yes, it says 8 ohm, but some internet lore says it's less than that, which I do not buy for a second. The real question is, who made it, and how to verify this?

[The Dude]

I'm pretty sure it's an old Eminence alnico. They are still making a version here:

Speaker Detail | Eminence Speaker

I've reconed some in the past that looked just like the pic you uploaded only without the Sunn sticker. I'm not sure you wanna go this far, but I'm betting there are Eminence numbers under the sticker. As far as the impedance lore, I'm more apt to believe factory ratings than some guy with a cheap meter. And, lest we forget, a DVM measures resistance which is only a bad approximation of impedance.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Yes, it says 8 ohm, but some internet lore says it's less than that, which I do not buy for a second. The real question is, who made it, and how to verify this?

I'm sure you're aware that ohm ratings of speakers are nominal. Actual impedance changes with frequency, and the impedance curve can be affected by the cab in which the speaker is mounted. Typical 4, 8, 16 ohm ratings are "best fit" numbers to those curves.

Verification of the Sunn speaker plant? Well there's the one person who claims to know, on the link. 30+ years later about all you can hope for are more similar accounts. If there was a link to CTS/Eminence you might be able to get some info from Eminence. I've never had to deal with them in person but I hear they're friendly and knowledgable. Pitch 'em an email, with the photo, and maybe you'll get an answer.

[g1]

Get your friend to measure DC resistance of every speaker he can get his hands on. In my experience, 5.6ohms is not an uncommon DC reading for an 8 ohm speaker.
If he expects the DC resistance to match the impedance, then there is probably no such thing as a 4, 8, or 16 ohm speaker .
Have him read up on impedance vs resistance, and show him some manufacturers impedance curves for an 8 ohm speaker, like this: http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Cannabis_Rex.pdf
The impedance curve is the faint line on the graph, the impedance numbers are up the right side of graph. It is not actually 8 ohms for very much of it's frequency range.

[J M Fahey]

FWIW Kentucky, mainly Paducah and a few miles around, seem to be home of a lot of speaker related manufacturing.
Which is reasonable: after a few years ex-employees already know how to work, probably also know some suppliers and who might be interested in buying some speakers at price, that brew only needs somebody providing some starting capital and presto !!! we have a new Factory.

So Sunn might have been approached by such guys and advanced money to start something.
Which could have lasted some years, but being tied to just one manufacturer does not help its future if parent company folds.

This is what WGS posts:

WGS® is a speaker manufacturer based in Paducah, Kentucky, a small town with a large history in speaker production. This includes the original CTS company, Credence Speakers, Voice Coil Communication, and Hawley Products - the oldest paper cone manufacturer in the world.

[The Dude]

I recone a lot of EV speakers as we are a dealer and most of the sound companies in the area have EV. So, as a down and dirty example of frequency vs. impedance:

I forget model numbers off of the top of my head, but EV has a plastic box single 12" subwoofer that uses the exact same driver as a line array 12" mid box. Both use the identical recone kit. The sub box specs say 8 ohms. The mid box specs say 16 ohms. I've had numerous conversations with sound techs trying to explain why this is, or they'll argue with me and tell me I'm using the wrong kit.

[g1]

Funny you mention that Dude, now I recall having seen the same thing, a sub box with a different impedance rating than another non-sub box with the exact same driver.

[Enzo]

Mackie SWA1501 subwoofer. SChematic calls out 12 0hm woofer. Drivers on the can marked as 8 ohm.

[Leo_Gnardo]

EV has a plastic box single 12" subwoofer that uses the exact same driver as a line array 12" mid box. Both use the identical recone kit. The sub box specs say 8 ohms. The mid box specs say 16 ohms. I've had numerous conversations with sound techs trying to explain why this is, or they'll argue with me and tell me I'm using the wrong kit.

Easy enough to 'splain - for the frequencies the sub will handle, the best-fit approximation to the impedance curve is 8 ohms, and for the frequencies the mid will handle, 16 ohms. But there are a lot of folks, including sound techs with or without edjmikation, who boggle when confronted with the notion that impedance isn't exactly the same at all frequencies. You know, the guys who hook up 4 x 8 ohm woofers in parallel because their amp "can handle a 2 ohm load" then wonder why their amps go up in smoke when the bass or synth player hits the magic note whose fundamental coincides with the bottom of the impedance curve. Oops, now you're trying to drive a 1 ohm load. Even more fun when they're running bridged power amps. Good luck, Charlie! More work for the fixit man.