IMPEDANCE
IMPEDANCE
(continued)
one 8 ohm enclosure, you know you can add one more 8 ohm speaker safely (8 divided by 2 = 4).
Although much less common, you could also add one, or even two, 16 ohm cabinets: two 16 ohm
cabinets in parallel have the same total impedance as one 8 ohm speaker.
To get the most efficiency out of your system with the fewest cabinets, your best choice would be to
connect two 8 ohm enclosures. Since you would be driving two cabinets of equal impedance, each will
receive half the power your amp can deliver. If your amplifier delivers 200 watts RMS at 4 ohms, then
each cabinet will receive 100 watts RMS maximum under clipping. (Clipping is the point where the
power amplifier runs out of headroom and begins to distort.) If you had four 16 ohm enclosures, each
one would receive a maximum of 50 watts RMS under clipping.
Continuous clipping is very harmful to speakers, especially in a bass system: the lower the note, the
longer the duration of DC content in the clipped signal. To understand what happens under this condi-
tion, remember the example of what speakers do when a 9 volt battery is applied to them. Now imag-
ine what 20 or even 50 volts would do at the rate of 40 times per second! The results can be over-
heating, disfiguring of the voice coil, overall fatigue, and—eventually—complete failure.
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
“I’m hearing unwanted distortion through my cabinet.”
This could be for a variety of reasons, but is probably being caused by one of the following three
sources: 1) the amplifier, 2) the cabinet’s woofer(s), and 3) the cabinet’s tweeter.
The best way to figure it out is to try and isolate “the big three.” If you have access to another (work-
ing) bass cabinet, hook your amp up to it. If things are still distorting, it’s probably your amp. Consult
your amplifier owner’s manual for troubleshooting that piece of gear.
To determine whether the distortion’s coming from the tweeter or the woofers, first put your ear up to
the cabinet, play some notes, and see if you can hear where it’s emanating from. If you can’t quite
narrow it down, try turning the Tweeter Attenuator control all the way down (counter-clockwise). When
this control is all the way down, the tweeter is effectively “off.” Play some notes—if you hear distortion,
you know it’s not the tweeter (see next paragraph…). If you don’t hear any distortion with the tweeter
off, try turning up the Tweeter Attenuator. It may be that you just need to find the optimum tweeter
level for your bass, amp, or style of playing. If the tweeter distorts no matter what level the Tweeter
Attenuator control is set to, it’s probably best to call SWR’s Service Department. The number’s (818)
253-4797.
If the tweeter’s off AND the amp’s okay, and you’re still hearing distortion, there may be a problem with
your woofer(s) and/or the cabinet’s internal workings. Inspect your woofers’ cones for folded edges.
There’s a very slight chance you have a defective woofer. Or, you may have blown one or all of them by
driving them too hard. Speakers that have been overdriven are easy to detect, and generally do not fall
under a manufacturer’s warranty. You should call SWR’s Service Department to determine your next
move. The number’s (818) 253-4797.
“I hear intermittent distortion and/or crackling coming from the cabinet.”
This could be due to a bad speaker cable, or a bad speaker cable connection. First, make sure the
cable is securely connected to both the cabinet and the amp (or other cabinet). If you’re using more
BASS SPEAKER ENCLOSURES OWNER’S MANUAL • 19
