What do I need to power a 500 watt bass cab?
Question by Cameron Major: What do I need to power a 500 watt bass cab?
I have gained a 500 watt bass cab and I need an amp to power it. I know that the original speaker was 250 watts and was replaced with the 500, but that’s all I know. Do I need a 500 watt amp to power it? And is there anything else I need to know?
Best answer:
Answer by Ken C
The “500 watt” spec is saying that the speaker should be capable of handling 500 watts without being damaged. That’s all.
You can certainly run it with a lower wattage amp, as long as you’re not driving the amp into distortion.
And while most people realize that you can damage a speaker from trying to put too much wattage into it, it’s also possible to damage it from using an amp that’s too small.
If you’re having to crank the amp up all the way to get the volume you need, and the output is distorted, then you’re sending square waves to the speaker. Without getting too technical here, a speaker will try but can not reproduce a square wave. A square wave will also cause the voice coil on the speaker to run much hotter, and that’s usually what gets damaged.
One final note…a speaker with a higher wattage does not necessarily mean it’s louder. How loud a speaker is very dependent on it’s effeciency. That is, how good of a job does it do converting the electrical energy into acoustic energy. I find that usually the higher the wattage of the speaker, the lower it’s effeciency. In other words, you have to have a bigger amp just to make it sound as loud.
Good luck.
Greetings from Austin, TX
Ken
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