SWR 550x Owner's Manual page 6

550x - GETTING STARTED
CONNECTING YOUR SPEAKER CABINETS
The 550x is a mono amplifier, which makes things fairly simple. Locate the "Speaker Outputs" section on the rear of the amp.
You will notice that there are four different speaker output jacks, two 1/4" type and two Speakon type jacks. The Speakon
jacks are preferable if your speaker cabinet is equipped with Speakons as well; however, you can use any of the four available
jacks to connect your speaker(s) to the 550x.
USING ONE SPEAKER CABINET
Using a speaker cable of 18 gauge or heavier (the heavier the cable, the lower the gauge), simply connect any one of the
550x's Speaker Output jacks to the input jacks of your speaker cabinet. If your cabinet is a 4 ohm enclosure, the 550x will
deliver 550 watts into it. If your cabinet is an 8 ohm enclosure, it will deliver 375 watts into it. Be sure to check the power han-
dling capabilities of your speaker cabinet before connection and operation.
USING TWO SPEAKER CABINETS
Using a speaker cable of 18 gauge or heavier (the heavier the cable, the lower the gauge), simply connect any of the 550x's
Speaker Output jacks to the input jacks of your two speaker cabinets. (You can use one 1/4" and one Speakon Output jack
each if you wish; however, it is always best to use speaker cables with similar type ends.) If you use two 8 ohm cabinets–the
two-cabinet setup recommended by SWR–the resulting "total" impedance will be 4 ohms, and the 550x will deliver 550 watts
spread across both cabinets. Since the 550x is a mono amplifier and individual cabinet levels cannot be adjusted, it is recom-
mended that you use cabinets of the same impedance when using more than one cabinet. Needless to say, in all cases, be
sure to check the power handling capabilities and impedance of your speaker cabinet(s) before connection and operation.
IMPORTANT: The minimum total impedance when operating the 550x is 4 ohms. This means you can
safely use:
a) a single 8 ohm cabinet
b) a single 4 ohm cabinet
c) two 8 ohm cabinets (total: 4 ohms)
d) two 16 ohm cabinets (total: 8 ohms)
And you cannot safely use:
a) one 8 ohm cabinet and one 4 ohms cabinet (total: 2.6 ohms)
b) two 4 ohms cabinets (total: 2 ohms)
c) one 2 ohm cabinet
More details are available in the "Speaker Outputs" section of this manual, and we strongly recommend that you read the
entire manual. However, this should be enough information to get you started.
TURNING THE UNIT ON
Remove the AC cable from the accessory pack and connect it from the amplifier to a standard wall outlet. Make sure that the
both the Gain and Master Volume controls are set to the minimum position. Locate the power switch on the right side of the
front panel and turn the amplifier on. The power switch should then illuminate in red. Upon powering up, don't be surprised if
you hear a small pop. This is absolutely normal. (Eliminating this "power on transient" would require a component called a relay.
SWR chose not to incorporate this type of component due to the fact that relays degrade signal quality and often fail, causing
the unit to have no output and requiring a trip to a local service center. If you wish not to hear the power on transient, simply
set the Speaker Outputs mode switch to "Off" while turning the unit on, and then set the switch back to "On" for normal opera-
tion.)
6 • 550x