Highest efficiency 8" guitar speaker?

[joecool85]

The best I can find right now is 93.2db/w spl and that is the 8" Jensen Mod 20.  Anyone know of an 8" guitar speaker with better output?  I can't mash a 10" into my K20-X, just won't happen.

**edit**
There is also the 94.4db/w spl 8" Jensen Mod 20 C8R although some sites list that as 92.7db/w spl.

[joecool85]

Would something like this be any good for guitar: http://www.usspeaker.com/BETA8-1.htm ?

It's an Eminence Beta 8A rated at 95.1db and looking at the charts the response curve seems very similar to a Legend 1058.  There was another Eminence, the Alpha 8MRA, that rated 100.9db, but it didn't even come close to matching a normal guitar chart.  See here: http://www.usspeaker.com/alpha8mr-1.htm .  It's all in the upper end, nothing below 200hz or so - although the peaks seem about the same. 

What's interesting is that the 1058 is listed on Eminence's site as a guitar speaker while the 8MRA is listed as a bass speaker...even though it has much worse low end ratings.  Something I'm missing here?

[JHow]

Does Weber Speakers publish SPL figures?  Your question prompted me to look and I didn't see any.  I have used their alnico and ceramic 8" signature 8S speakers in champ-type circuits and liked them, but don't know specs.  They are low watt, about 15W, however.

[joecool85]

Does Weber Speakers publish SPL figures?  Your question prompted me to look and I didn't see any.  I have used their alnico and ceramic 8" signature 8S speakers in champ-type circuits and liked them, but don't know specs.  They are low watt, about 15W, however.

15w is fine since I will be running it at 8ohm/10watt.  I'll look for specs.

**edit**
No luck looking for specs and not sure if I want to bother with the speaker now since there aren't many options that look appealing.  My thought was replace the 4 ohm Dean Markley speaker with an 8ohm of higher SPL rating.  This would knock wattage down from 20w to 10w, but the increase in SPL would keep volume about the same.  Then I could plug an external cab with a Legend 1058 into it, wired in parallel with the internal speaker, this would give 4ohm/20w and I'd be able to aim the two speakers where I want/need them.  Now I'm thinking I may not even bother with the external cab and if I do I could always just unplug the internal speaker (I have it set up with a 1/4" jack now anyway).

So I'm thinking Jensen Mod or C8R 4 ohm if I replace the speaker and just unplug the internal speaker to use a cab if I want to.  I'd love to use a Weber but I'm not sure it would like 20w.

[J M Fahey]

Toss a coin between both Jensens, they are almost the same.
You can use a 4 ohm one so it's loud when used alone, and add the 12" with a switching jack for maximum SPL in a band situation.
*Or* build my favorite solution: leave the combo as-is or with a 4 ohm Jensen, and mount the 12" (your choice) in a *powered* box, with a 50W chipamp, driven by the DM used as preamp.
The powered extension box will be only slightly heavier than the passive one.
All gain, no pain  8| .

[joecool85]

Toss a coin between both Jensens, they are almost the same.
You can use a 4 ohm one so it's loud when used alone, and add the 12" with a switching jack for maximum SPL in a band situation.
*Or* build my favorite solution: leave the combo as-is or with a 4 ohm Jensen, and mount the 12" (your choice) in a *powered* box, with a 50W chipamp, driven by the DM used as preamp.
The powered extension box will be only slightly heavier than the passive one.
All gain, no pain  8| .

I've thought about the powered box idea.  It would give the most SPL and flexibility and I do already have a line out jack on the DM.  I do like the concept of not using any power other than what the DM puts out, but due to poor speaker choice in the 8" range it just doesn't seem to make sense with my original idea.