what does the "thru" jack on a speaker cab do?

[psychedelicrelic]

So i want to buy this speaker cab. Its all good and 16 ohms works for me. But what does the thru jack do? Connect a second cab? Any help is appreciated!

[Bellyheart]

I believe it allows you to chain them together. I'm sure it does something to ohmage but that's something I don't understand.

[Holy Schnikes]

Also agreed it probably just allows daisy chaining cabs. Most of these jacks are wired in parallel and ohm ratings will change when connecting multiple cabs this way. For instance, chaining 2x16 ohm cabs will produce 8 ohms total, 2x8 ohm cabs will result in 4 ohms total and so on like that.

[AxAxSxS]

Also agreed it probably just allows daisy chaining cabs. Most of these jacks are wired in parallel and ohm ratings will change when connecting multiple cabs this way. For instance, chaining 2x16 ohm cabs will produce 8 ohms total, 2x8 ohm cabs will result in 4 ohms total and so on like that.

exactly this

[Holy Schnikes]

It's a nice feature to have on cabs, def comes in handy in certain situations. Like using amps that only sport a single output or if you go to play a show with a tall stack and accidentally bring 3ft speaker cables.

[psychedelicrelic]

Thank you all for the replies.

Just to confirm; If I buy two of these cabs and connect them thru, I would use the amps 8 ohm speaker output?

[AxAxSxS]

yes

[bronzetalon]

Yep some older cabs are weird and the extra jack hooks the cab in series but most newer cabs do the parallel thing and since that cab is rated at 16 it would make sense to get another and plug into the 8 ohm output on your amp.

[psychedelicrelic]

GREAT. You guys just convinced me to spend another $400.

[ThurberMingus]

I have a hypothetical question in regards to this (don't worry I would never actually try this):

What happens when you daisy chain like a 16 ohm cab and an 8? Does it average out or something? Or is it just the worst idea ever?

[Holy Schnikes]

I have a hypothetical question in regards to this (don't worry I would never actually try this):

What happens when you daisy chain like a 16 ohm cab and an 8? Does it average out or something? Or is it just the worst idea ever?

Not quite sure what happens but it's never recommended to mix cabs with different ohm ratings. It would cause an uneven load with one cab drawing more power and running way louder I think. Damage could result I suppose...

[ThurberMingus]

Yeah I definitely wasn't planning on it I was just curious as to what might happen.

[MEC]

I have a hypothetical question in regards to this (don't worry I would never actually try this):
What happens when you daisy chain like a 16 ohm cab and an 8? Does it average out or something? Or is it just the worst idea ever?

Row 1 = 1 speaker : 16.00 ohms
( 16.00 ohms total for row)

Row 2 = 1 speaker : 8.00 ohms
( 8.00 ohms total for row)

Connecting Row 1 and Row 2 in Parallel

Total Impedance for this combination = 5.33 ohms

http://colomar.com/Shavano/impedance_proc.php

We won’t bother with the mathematical formula used. Let me tell you the "easy" way to come up with the calculation. Using a calculator with a reciprical key ("1/x"), do this: enter the first resistance value (for our example, press 8 for our 8 ohms), then press the "1/x" key. Then press "+" and then enter the next resistance value (16) and again press the "1/x" key. Then press "=", then "1/x" and you’ll have your final answer.

Based on this, the final resistance rating of the single 8 and 16 ohm cabinet ran in parallel is approximately 5.33 ohms. To run this setup reliably, but of course understanding that there will be some power loss, make sure the amplifier is set to 4 ohms. Better yet, sell one of the cabinets and purchase a new one with an appropriately matched ohms rating so you can get all the power out your amplifier and therefore have the tightest and most powerful sound available out of your rig. Hope all this helps!

http://www.legendarytones.com/ohms.html

[ThurberMingus]

Well, won't lay in bed pondering that anymore. Thanks for the link an info! Good stuff!