60W speaker into 100W amp (2024)

I am running my JMP-1 through ART SLA1 into WGS Veteran 30 (60W) and MC90 (90W).

Can I crank it up all the way without a risk of blowing the speakers?

My wishfull thinking here is that since they are guitar speakers, and tube guitar amps put out aprox. 50% more power when at distorted/overdriven 10, and since the speaker rated at 60W is made for 60W amp, but could handle 90W - I should be OK at 90% volume for WGS and 100% for MC90.

Arek777 said:

I am running my JMP-1 through ART SLA1 into WGS Veteran 30 (60W) and MC90 (90W).

Can I crank it up all the way without a risk of blowing the speakers?

My wishfull thinking here is that since they are guitar speakers, and tube guitar amps put out aprox. 50% more power when at distorted/overdriven 10, and since the speaker rated at 60W is made for 60W amp, but could handle 90W - I should be OK at 90% volume for WGS and 100% for MC90.

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If you have a 60W speaker & a 90W speaker wired together in the cab, the total handling wattage for that cab is 120 watts.
You take the lesser wattage speaker and times it by the number of speakers in the cab.
If you're running the power amp in stereo (one side per speaker...... that's a different story)

60W speaker into 100W amp

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Not the same by a country mile

And yes, I agree that the lower powered speaker defines cabinet total power handling

Ilduce said:

I could be wrong, but from what I've read it's my understanding that you add the speaker wattages together and the total is the power rating. Sort of like my 4x12 is rated at 350 watts, it has 2 G12t75's at 75 watts each and 2 Elite 100's at 100 watts each, 2 x 75 and 2 x 100 = 350. At least that's my understanding. So yours would be 60 + 90 = 150. I'm very interested to find out if this is correct!

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Wrong.

Braciola said:

If you have a 60W speaker & a 90W speaker wired together in the cab, the total handling wattage for that cab is 120 watts.
You take the lesser wattage speaker and times it by the number of speakers in the cab.
If you're running the power amp in stereo (one side per speaker...... that's a different story)

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Arek777 said:

I have actually hooked them up to two separate outputs. Each pumping out 100W.

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That's a really bad idea

sharpshooter said:

If so, than the power handeling ability of a 60 watt, plus a 90 watt, (the speakers wired in parallel), would be ~75 watts.

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So, lets check your theory:
If you ran a 25 watt Celestion Greenback in parallel with a 200 watt EVM12L, you would get a total that handles 112.5 watts?
Try cranking a Marshall Super Lead through that 112.5 watt cab, and let me know how many seconds it takes to fry that Greenback.

Braciola said:

So, lets check your theory:
If you ran a 25 watt Celestion Greenback in parallel with a 200 watt EVM12L, you would get a total that handles 112.5 watts?
Try cranking a Marshall Super Lead through that 112.5 watt cab, and let me know how many seconds it takes to fry that Greenback.

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14.2 seconds!! Lol. Or less.

Lowest wattage speaker times the number of speakers in your cab equals max wattage.

Greenback. 25 watt and 200 watt ev In a 2x12 cab. 50 watts .

Braciola said:

So, lets check your theory:
If you ran a 25 watt Celestion Greenback in parallel with a 200 watt EVM12L, you would get a total that handles 112.5 watts?
Try cranking a Marshall Super Lead through that 112.5 watt cab, and let me know how many seconds it takes to fry that Greenback.

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I did'nt propose anything as a theory, I put a question mark in my post,
and, my last paragraph is totally correct.

Hacksaw said:

14.2 seconds!! Lol.

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I think 14.2 is a bit optimistic, I'd put my money on less than 3 seconds.

Arek777 said:

I am running my JMP-1 through ART SLA1 into WGS Veteran 30 (60W) and MC90 (90W).

Can I crank it up all the way without a risk of blowing the speakers?

My wishfull thinking here is that since they are guitar speakers, and tube guitar amps put out aprox. 50% more power when at distorted/overdriven 10, and since the speaker rated at 60W is made for 60W amp, but could handle 90W - I should be OK at 90% volume for WGS and 100% for MC90.

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People already have chimed in with the correct answer to the speaker cabinets max wattage: 120 watts. However, keep in mind that a lot of amps, particularly amps derived from Marshall designs, produce wattages well in excess of their nominal wattages when you crank them up, sometimes as such as double their nominal wattages.

For example, I, personally, try to run a 50 watt Marshall into an 80 to 100 watt cabinet if I'm going to crank it without an attenuator or master volume.

sharpshooter said:

I did'nt propose anything as a theory, I put a question mark in my post,
and, my last paragraph is totally correct.

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About that last paragraph, Uh, you sure about that? I'd like to see the math, please.

sharpshooter said:

Since speakers also have operational similarities to an inductor, that if the impedence ratings are the same, than should'nt the formula for power be expressed as a function of reciprocals?
If so, than the power handeling ability of a 60 watt, plus a 90 watt, (the speakers wired in parallel), would be ~75 watts.
To clarify, if wired in parallel, than the power handeling ability is greater than the lesser speaker, but less than the greater speaker,,if wired in series, than the speaker with the lowest rating becomes the limiting factor.

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By that logic then a 2x12 with two 50 watt speakers would only be 50 watts. We know that's not true. It's 100 watts.

You're spreading out the wattage between the speakers. In a 4x12 being hit with 100

watts each speaker is dissipating 25 watts nominally. Now that would be fine if you're running, say, four 30 watt G12H Anniversaries. However, if you mix two G12H Anniversaries with two 20 watt Heritage Series G12Ms then you're going to run into trouble. Even though you would think that the wattages of the speakers add up to 100 watts, you'd be putting 25 watts each on the two 20 watt speakers. Therefore, in that example, you could safely take up to 80 actual watts with that configuration.