Can an Impedance mismatch hurt the PL-IR?

Stage & Studio Power Load PL-IR
1

I have a pair of PL-IRs that I use in the studio at home for silent recording. I used these on a silent stage last week, and somehow the switch on the back got moved from 16ohm to 4 ohm. I plugged a 16 ohm amp into it (a little 15w benson Earhart head) and it sounded like absolute garbage. Completely blown. Realizing what happened, I quickly powered off the amp, reset the impedance, and tried again. It still sounded bad.

I have tried other heads with this PL-IR, and they also sound bad. I have also tried the amp with my other PL-IR, and it sounds fine. I have ruled out all cables and routing – it’s literally just this unit.

So forgive my ignorance – I knew an impedance mismatch could hurt my amp, but can it also hurt my PL-IR? Worried I blew this thing up.

2

Hi Dillon and welcome to the forum,

It’s pretty unlikely that the impedance mismatched damaged the PL-IR, especially since the input power is very low, only 15W.

Can you post the good PL-IR and the bad one with the same setup so I can hear the difference. Yes, it might need a service, but hearing it would help decide what to do.