ht5r combo with external cab

[angstrom]

Hi, is there a particular reason why it's not recommended to use the internal speaker along with an external cabinet? The combo sounds good, but richer and fuller with the additional cabinet connected. Can't see why that should be a bad idea. If it can drive 2 external 16ohm speakers, why not the internal plus 1 other? (in this case 8ohms)

[thephantum]

Where did you see it's not recommended? I think it's actually the opposite. Blackstar actually markets and sells an HT-5RS mini stack, which is the head and two 1x12 cabs. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HT5RS

The combo is the same exact chassis as the head. It's just inverted with different front and rear face-plates. So there's no reason you can't run an external cab. The trick is the cab should be 16 ohms. That way you can run both the internal and the cab off the 8 ohm tap and keep things impedance matched.

Now, you can run an 8 ohm cab with the internal speaker (16 ohm) but you will have two, interdependent issues:

• - The first is that impedance will be mismatched at 5.33 ohms. Not that big a deal as most tube amps (including Blackstars) can take up to a 2x mismatch in either direction. 5.33 Ohms is between 8 and 4 Ohms, so not that big a deal.
  
  - The larger issue is what that mismatch means to power distribution. The 8 Ohm cab will see more power (3.33w) vs. the 16 Ohm internal (1.67w). That's not necessarily a bad thing...just something to be aware of.

[angstrom]

Thanks for the reply - very helpful, especially as I misread the manual. It's the HT-5210 that says not to use the internal together with an extension cabinet. No problem!

[lee woodhams]

Hiya.

First post, So i'm right in using the 1x8ohm socket for the internal speakers on my HT5210?

Thanks