Mo' Bass Power Delivery Capabilities (Power Ratings); Bridged/Mono Mode; Stereo Mode (Per Side) - SWR Mo' Bass Owner's Manual

Damage to the power amplifier section of the Mo' Bass may occur if speaker enclosures with total impedances less than the
minimum loads listed above are connected to the speaker output section. The owner's manual that came with your speaker
cabinet should state its total impedance. On SWR speaker enclosures, the total impedance is generally indicated on the
speaker's input panel.
So how do you determine the total impedance of two cabinets hooked up in parallel (parallel means off the same power amp
- either left, right or mono/bridged)? Here's a quick key of the most common setups:
• One 8 ohm enclosure + one 8 ohm enclosure = 4 ohms total impedance
• One 4 ohm enclosure + one 4 ohm enclosure = 2 ohms total impedance
• One 8 ohm enclosure + one 4 ohms enclosure = 2.67 ohms total impedance
Here's another formula: To figure out the total impedance of two or more cabinets of equal value hooked up in parallel, divide
the impedance of one cabinet by the number of cabinets:
• Impedance of one cabinet / number of cabinets = total impedance
(For an even more in-depth discussion of impedance and power rating issues, go to the SWR Website at
www.swrsound.com, click on "Press", then click on "Articles", then click on "Plug and Play - Setup Tips for Amps and
Speakers" - an article by SWR founder Steve Rabe that ran in the August '92 issue of Bass Player Magazine.)

Mo' Bass Power Delivery Capabilities (Power Ratings)

After determining how the number of cabinets you wish to run affects the total operating impedance, you need to take into
account the power handling capabilities of your speaker cabinets as compared to what the Mo' Bass can deliver at that
impedance. Those ratings are as follows:

Bridged/Mono Mode

900 Watts @ 4 Ohms (minimum)
650 Watts @ 8 Ohms
440 Watts @ 16 Ohms

Stereo Mode (per side)

600 watts @ 2 Ohms (minimum)
400 watts @ 4 Ohms
250 watts @ 8 Ohms
150 watts @ 16 Ohms
So if you have two 8 ohm speaker cabinets and you want to run them in stereo, they will each get up to 250 watts of power,
and more during transient peaks. In stereo, optimum performance will be achieved by using a total of 4 ohms per channel.
(When using 2 ohm loads, the amplifier will run hotter than normal and the internal fan will be running most of the time.)
Two 4 ohm cabinets in stereo will each get 400 watts of power. Make sure your speaker cabinets can handle the power!
This is even more crucial in bridged/mono mode. If you want to use one 8 ohm cabinet in bridged/mono mode, it had better
be able to handle up to 650 watts of power. If you want to use two 8 ohm speaker cabinets daisy-chained together in
bridged/mono mode - resulting in a 4 ohm total impedance - the combined power handling of those two cabinet had better
be at least 900 watts. Don't guess or assume that your speaker cabinets can handle the power listed above. Get the specs
and make sure!
Also be aware that when running the Mo' Bass in bridged/mono mode at 4 ohms, you are operating at the maximum
capacity of the power amplifier. With extreme settings on the Preamp Volume and Master Volume controls, you may hear
audible clipping of the power amp. If so, you have exceeded the maximum capacity of the power amp. POWER AMP
CLIPPING CAN CAUSE DAMAGE BOTH TO THE POWER AMP SECTION AND YOUR SPEAKER CABINETS. Either
use the Preamp Limiter/Leveler to help smooth out the peaks, or back off on the Preamp and Master Volume Controls.
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