Speakers for 5E3 build.

[mcilfilm]

Hello everyone.
Rob here. Lurker making my first appearance.

Into my first build and everything is going swell.
5E3 kit from Triode USA. Looking great.

I have available to me a pair of Jensen c10q's and
one Jensen pm10c, with a new 8 ohm cone. Great professional recone job.

I thought of 2x10 c10q's and was wondering if I should wire them together
for a sum of 4 ohm or 16 ohm. The output transformer can be wired for either.

Also, can a switch be added near the output to switch back and forth between ohm setting?

That's a long question so thank all of you in advance.

Or should I bag all of that and just use the one pm10c?

Thanks a ton.
Rob

[Firestorm]

A stock 5E3 has a single 12" speaker, so going to just a single 10" will move quite a bit less air. I'm assuming you haven't committed to a cab yet. If it were me, I'd use two 10s and maybe make it switchable between one vs two speakers and between 8 and 4 ohms secondary impedance.

[Zippy]

I'd also go with the 2-10 combo - check out a 5F4 Super cabinet as a starting point.

[gingertube]

Rob,
Just one mans opinion -
Wire the 2 x 10" in parallel for 4 Ohms.
Speakers wired in parallel tend to damp each other electrically(in addition to the damping from the amp itself) and the sound will be tighter than if the speakers are wired in series.

If you put an output impedance selector switch onto any amp you need to be aware of the current rating of the switch.
For a 5E3 with a pair of 6V6 then power out will be approx 15 Watts.
From Power = Current squared x R you can calculate the speaker drive current and get just under 2 Amps RMS maximum.

Just about any switch will be OK for that current but note as the amp power goes up then selector switch current rating becomes much more important.
(Example: 100W into 4 Ohms would require a 5 Amp rated switch).

Cheers,
Ian

[pops]

Guess it depends what you want to use the amp for. the pm10c will break up quicker so for recording or quiet tone or for harp that would be my choice. The two 10's if you would like to keep it clean for a little louder volume. A 5E3 will break up anyway, just depends when you want it to do it.