Cab Speakers.

Quattroste

I'm thinking of buying the seperate parts for a cab and assembling myself (actually it's a pre built pre wired cab, and a speaker :pac:)

I want a 1x12 cab for my 7watt Matamp head. Should I buy a 25watt Celestian Greenback or go for something bigger in watts? There is a fairly cheap Eminence 60watt Rockdriver speaker on Ebay.

Any other suggestions for good speakers under the €100 (including delivery) pricerange?

Voodu Child

I would definitely go for something low-wattage with that amp.

Personally I think if you can drive a speaker harder it ads its own little something to the sound (speaker break-up or whatever you want to call it)...so on a small amp i'd prefer the 25watt speaker over the 60 watt.

But, theres lots of other factors influencing tone, so its impossible to give a 'right' answer...but anyway, thats what id go for out of those two. I had a lovely greenback loaded Marshall 4x12 once and it sounded fantastic.

Quattroste

Thanks Voodoo. I don't actually go for a particular "tone". I like to get pieces of kit and see what I can get from them, what they have to offer. I'm kinda siding with the Greenback myself simply because of the reputation they have.

One question though! If I have my amp volume set at say 5, would a 25 watt speaker be quiter that a 50 watt speaker or does the wattage only matter when you have an amp that can go to 50 or 100 watts?

Voodu Child

The sensitivity or efficiency is what you're interested in if you want to know how 'loud' a speaker will be comparatively. Its measured in dB, and a bigger number will be louder.

Quattroste

I don't actually want to know how loud it can be. The Matamp is quite loud for 7 watts and I want to be able to play at home without killing small animals (fcuk the neighbours!). So will a 50 watt speaker be louder at 5 on the amp then a 25 watt speaker at 5 on the amp or have I just missed the point completely.

I tell you, one can feel like a right dumbass when asking these questions :pac:

Voodu Child

Quattroste wrote: »

So will a 50 watt speaker be louder at 5 on the amp then a 25 watt speaker at 5 on the amp or have I just missed the point completely.

Well, like I say, its the sensitivity that will decide that, not the power rating.

Paolo_M

I'd agree with Voodoo. A speaker sound it's best when it's really working, that is when it's operating nearer it's power rating so I'd personally go for the Greenback. The 60W wont get working as much as the Greenback. You should always have a safety margin of 50% + between amp and speaker, if I had a 50W amp I'd go for at least a 75W speaker but for the best tone I wouldn't go too much more than that. You'd be ok with a 15W speaker but the G12M would be a good choice.

The loudness of a speaker is down to it's sensitivity. A 100dB speaker will sound about twice as loud as a 90dB speaker for the same amp output power.
For example this means a 90dB, 100W speaker will only sound half as loud as a 100dB 50Watt speaker driven by the same 50W amp at the same volume level. However the 50W speaker is likely to blow after some time (especially if you played at full whack) whereas as the 100W would probably keep running indefinitley.