Speaker Wattage

[stingray_65]

great point OLDAWG
I do a lot of recycling of vintage parts and I know first hand what you say is true.

I just got the feeling when our newcommer asked how many watts , that he was going to find something as big as the hole and what ever anyone said to be the power capabilities and he would just put it in .

UGG! could you imagine if he found one of those bass speaker the kids put in thier cars!
I realy would like to see him enjoy his first tube amp
so i emphasized an MI speaker.

the beauty of vintage speakers when you can find them in good order is that the cones already have a mellow set to them and you get the results of a break in imediatly.

[stingray_65]

BTW
cab looks great!

what are your plans for the covering?

I 've recently covered an amp in denim , fresh material , not old blue jeans like the pics on that site.

its just a tiny 2 watt, but its my sons practice amp and my GOD he treats it like a tonka truck and so far its just as durable

I have to honestly say is it the most forgiving material i have ever used.

and with all the varieties available i'll use it again.

[a1terrier]

Interesting reply re `Old` speakers. I have a pair of 30 year old 12" Wharfedale speakers in the garage. In good condition, Ive looked but cant seem to see the ohm on them,

As regards covering Im probably going to use good old Tolex in conservative black. Ive put some half round beading on the front edges which makes the cab look good. Need to find a good Tolex tutorial somewhere, although if I get stuck (?) one of my customers at at work is a top upholsterer so he will help me out if I give him a free box of staples!

[a1terrier]

Thanks for info on speaker Peter. Much appreciated. This is a very steep learning curve for me but a very enjoyable one.

[olddawg]

Interesting reply re `Old` speakers. I have a pair of 30 year old 12" Wharfedale speakers in the garage. In good condition, Ive looked but cant seem to see the ohm on them,

As regards covering Im probably going to use good old Tolex in conservative black. Ive put some half round beading on the front edges which makes the cab look good. Need to find a good Tolex tutorial somewhere, although if I get stuck (?) one of my customers at at work is a top upholsterer so he will help me out if I give him a free box of staples!

In general a speaker coil's DC resistance will measure out at slightly lower than the rated impedence. An 8 ohm speaker will read around 7.2 ohms, a 16 ohm around 15 ohms, and a 4 ohm around 3.2 ohms with a good digital meter with decent leads. Hook those babies up. You never know.

Here's a tutorial:
http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/008611.html

You might also look at:
http://www.18watt.com/

Or one of the many other amp building sites. If you use contact cement just make sure that you do it in a HIGHLY ventilated area away from any flames or sparks, including funky fan motors.

[a1terrier]

Found the spec it was inside the speaker cab.
9 1/2" diameter
Nom Imp 6 ohms
Frq Respose 50hz to 20 khz + or - 3db
Max Power 40 watts
Sensitivity 86 db for 1 watt @ 1 metre
xover points 1.3 khz & 4.5 knz
xover rates 6db 12 db per octave
Manufactured by Rank Wharfedale.
As I said they must be 30 years old just cant bear to throw them away even if they are no good for my cab.

[olddawg]

Found the spec it was inside the speaker cab.
9 1/2" diameter
Nom Imp 6 ohms
Frq Respose 50hz to 20 khz + or - 3db
Max Power 40 watts
Sensitivity 86 db for 1 watt @ 1 metre
xover points 1.3 khz & 4.5 knz
xover rates 6db 12 db per octave
Manufactured by Rank Wharfedale.
As I said they must be 30 years old just cant bear to throw them away even if they are no good for my cab.

From looking at the specs I would say this is for the whole cab. It includes the crossover specifications. I would guess that it has a mid range driver and a tweeter. If they are mounted separately in the cabinet and the woofers have paper surrounds they may usable as 10" MI speakers. If the midranges and tweeters are mounted coaxially on the woofers they probably aren't. Then again I have sucessfully removed the additional coxail drivers from other speakers and used them in amps in a pinch. A pic would help. Most stereo woofers had foam surrounds by 30 years ago (1979) and would not be usable as MI speakers.

[a1terrier]

Thanks for reply Olddawg. Have attached 4 pics. Speaker is rubber mounted onto a steel frame. As I said if they are no use as an amp speaker, fine. I`ll probably clean them up and use them for bbq music etc.

[guitician]

A rubber surround woofer will not have any midrange and the midrange speaker will not have any low midrange punch like a guitar speaker. I have seen acoustic amps with speakers like that in them, for a more "Hi-Fi" sound that and acoustic amp would need.

[olddawg]

Thanks for reply Olddawg. Have attached 4 pics. Speaker is rubber mounted onto a steel frame. As I said if they are no use as an amp speaker, fine. I`ll probably clean them up and use them for bbq music etc.

Yeah, those are stereo speakers not suitable for guitar. However, if nothing is blown they appear to be very decent 3 way stereo speakers. The fact that it has a good dome tweeter and a midrage driver is a good indicator. I took a similar set of speakers and built them into the wall of my living room low down on both sides of a 52" LCD TV hanging on the wall. I did it because my wife complains about big stereo speakers in the room, so I built everything into the wall.

[stingray_65]

you know what i'm thinking?

now that you got the tube amp bug and all

you need a tube hifi system

a couple 12ax7's a nice pair of se OT and who knows maybe some 7868 to give it a Fisher kind of sound

[a1terrier]

Thanks again for replies. Looks like Celestion G12 here I come. Pity because when I bought the Wharfedales back in the late 70`s they were pretty expensive as I remember. Thanks for suggestion re valve hi-fi but might have to pass on that one. Divorces quite expensive these days! Got to convince the wife that I really need another amp yet. Shes seen the cab, asked what its for so I told her and not heard another comment about it so might have got away with it!!
Might make a head now so that cab is just for speaker.