Help needed matching amp to speakers

[markyt1980]

Hi guys, I am a newbie here so please be gentle. I have looked through other posts on this subject but I am a bit stupid with the tech stuff. My situation is I have been given a Peavey CS800S Amplifier by a friend who is no longer gigging. The specs are

420 W RMS into 4 ohms, 600 W RMS into 2 ohms (per channel) and 840 W RMS into 8 ohms, 1200 W RMS into 4 ohms (bridged)

 

I want to buy some new speaker cabs and the ones I have been looking at are the Electrovoice zx4 or Peavey UL12.

 

The Specs for the ev's are 400 watts RMS per speaker at 8 ohms

 

The Specs for the Peavey's are 500 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms.

I need to know if I could safely use each of these speakers with this amplifier. I would be using it as a solo vocalist and duo situations using backing tracks. in small to medium sized venues upto 200 people. To add to the dilema, My duo partner has just bought a

Dynacord Powermate 1000 Mk 2 for us to use and share the cabs. the specs on this are

Maximum Midband Output Power, 1 kHz, THD=1%: 2 x 870 W rms into 2.66 Ohms 2 x 700 W rms into 4 Ohms, 2 x 430 W rms into 8 Ohms

Rated Output Power, THD=0.1%, Single Channel: 2 x 700 W rms into 4 Ohms, 2 x 350 W rms into 8 Ohms

I am confused I need Cabs that we can hopfully use on both would either the peaveys or zx4s be ok or am I totally barking up a very expensive wrong tree.

 

Many thanks

 

 

[paulears]

You've got the Peavey specs a bit swapped around.

 

The rating for the CS 800 stereo amp is

240W X 2 at 8 Ohms

400W X 2 at 4 Ohms

800W x1 (bridge mode) at 8 Ohms

 

Either loudspeaker will be fine run from this amp, in fact, it's more common to have the amp ratings a little higher than the speaker so that running into distortion is less likely.

 

The more powerful Dynacord will drive these fine too.

 

Most speaker damage is done by driving the amplifier into distortion, which then does the damage - although power output is obviously linked, the Dynacord running at way below maxium output is kinder to the loudspeakers. A bit like not using 5th gear in the car. You can do 80 in 4th, but the engine doesn't like it very much.

 

I can't see a mismatch here - although my own feeling is that Peavey are a little rubber bandish when it comes to specs. They rarely tell you that the sound quality falls off quite noticeably as you approach their paper figure - but you can hear them objecting, and can turn down.

[markyt1980]

You've got the Peavey specs a bit swapped around.

 

The rating for the CS 800 stereo amp is

240W X 2 at 8 Ohms

400W X 2 at 4 Ohms

800W x1 (bridge mode) at 8 Ohms

 

Either loudspeaker will be fine run from this amp, in fact, it's more common to have the amp ratings a little higher than the speaker so that running into distortion is less likely.

 

The more powerful Dynacord will drive these fine too.

 

Most speaker damage is done by driving the amplifier into distortion, which then does the damage - although power output is obviously linked, the Dynacord running at way below maxium output is kinder to the loudspeakers. A bit like not using 5th gear in the car. You can do 80 in 4th, but the engine doesn't like it very much.

 

I can't see a mismatch here - although my own feeling is that Peavey are a little rubber bandish when it comes to specs. They rarely tell you that the sound quality falls off quite noticeably as you approach their paper figure - but you can hear them objecting, and can turn down.

 

 

Thank you very much for a quick response on this, I was worried I may make something blow up as it were ** laughs out loud **. really appreciated. I feel I will go with the EV's as I have heard good about them.

[dboomer]

Running power "safely" requires precautions ... no matter how much power you use.

 

read this ... http://www.peavey.com/support/technotes/po..._MUCH_POWER.pdf

[markyt1980]

Just to check also I have some LD Systems LD Pro 1222 rated at 250watts RMS at 8 Ohms

 

Am I right in thinking that if the amp based on the ratings below, runs at 240 watts rms at 8 Ohms, I am also ok to use these speakers should I need to?

 

The rating for the CS 800 stereo amp is

240W X 2 at 8 Ohms

400W X 2 at 4 Ohms

800W x1 (bridge mode) at 8 Ohms

[back_ache]

Yes.

 

Though my preference is to have the amp more powerful than the speakers, you will find the combination works just fine.

[Simon Lewis]

As long as you do not cause the amp to clip, it'll be fine.

Often users will allow themselves a little extra amplifier headroom*, but that then requires the speakers to be able to handle that extra power for brief periods or with signals with that have a different peak to mean ratio from a sine wave. Many "good" speakers can but others are at the very edge when fed their rated power. It also requires the operator not to use the extra power to overdrive the speakers.

 

* bear in mind that an extra 3dB headroom is double the amplifier's power rating

 

Simon

[Boltonguy]

My rule of thumb here is to ignore the RMS rating and use an amp that is more in line with the Programm rating.

 

For example, the ZX4 speakers (which I receomend well above the Peavey speakers) has an RMS of 400 watts with a program rating of 800 watts. (1600W peak) Therefore, I would head for an amp that will give you just under of 800 watts at 8 ohms per channel

 

The dynacord powermate or the Allen & Heath powered mixer would be great for these speakers.