Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum

Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: alerich on October 15, 2011, 02:26:43 pm

Title: Using attenuator between speakers
Post by: alerich on October 15, 2011, 02:26:43 pm

Hello all,

I don't see any reason why this won't work but I need a second opinion or two. I have a Peavey 5150 head - 120W output. I have two 1x12 speaker cabinets each with Avatar Hellatone 30W 16Ω speakers. While these sound wicked and I'd love to use just these in parallel with the 5150 they can't handle it and I don't want to blow them. When I connect another set of 1x12 cabinets containing Eminence Lady Luck 75W 16Ω speakers for total 4Ω load with sufficient power handling capability the Lady Lucks become the dominant speaker in the mix. I like the addition of them but I only want a bit of them in the speaker mix.

So I rigged up the setup you see in the attached pic. I placed an 8Ω THD Hot Plate between the sets of speakers and use it to bleed off a bit of the signal to the Lady Lucks. It seems to work great and sounds huge. Am I missing anything that might cause a meltdown?

Thanks,
Peter

Title: Re: Using attenuator between speakers
Post by: FYL on October 15, 2011, 03:59:15 pm

I don't see a problem here. Check the resulting impedance(s) just to be sure.

Title: Re: Using attenuator between speakers
Post by: alerich on October 15, 2011, 05:01:56 pm

Good call. I didn't think about monitoring the Z while I engage the attenuator. Thanks for the input.