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Enter your amp and speakers, choose the stages you want, and get the resistor values for a JohnH reactive attenuator: the ideal value, the nearest standard value, how far off it is, and the watts each part has to handle.
Worked out in your browser from a circuit model. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
How the numbers are worked out
- The amp is a source with the output impedance under Model settings: 2.5 × the speaker load unless you change it.
- The speaker is a plain resistor of its rated impedance. A real speaker's impedance moves with frequency, so the dB you hear can differ a little from the model.
- Attenuation and the loads the amp and speaker see are worked out at the check frequency.
- Watts: the amp at its full rated power, a steady sine wave, through every setting from 20 Hz up to the top of the full-power band. Each part shows its worst case. Guitar signal carries far less power at the top end.
- The part rating is the worst watts times your margin, rounded up to a common rating. The 2 × default is a suggestion, not a rule.