115 vs 210
 

Pros, Cons,

Where and when to use?

Style of music most suited for?

What gives a fatter sound?

The one that is design better. No other answer available.

Speaker size alone has no bearing on it's tone.

It's all about the speakers specs placed inside a well designed cab.

Try a bunch out, and use your ears not your eyes.

I wont do a 2x10 (and have owned a few). I don't see what's awesome about having your sound shooting at your ankles. I call it being too low in the mix.

I love my Mesa PH 1x12 right now. I'd get another but it's all I need for my non-metal gigs/rehearsals.

Wait, a 2x10 sits too low but a 1x12 is okay?

Set the 2x10 on end like a big boy!

+1

Haha.. funny thing is I totally spaced that I do in fact still own/use a 2x10. I just think of it so little (haven't jammed with that group for a while, where it resides) and like my 1x12 so much more.

With any small cab, I find the best solution for it being down by your ankles is to tilt it back so it's aimed upwards.

Use 'em all. At once. Together.

I like a good 210 or 115, and I don't like a bad 210 or 115.

Need help finding my way home...:hiding:

I have a TL 1x15 cab (Eminence 3015 loaded), which I enjoy and use regularly.

When the gig is small enough, I use the TL 1x12 instead (Eminence 3012HO).

I built both cabinets, and really enjoy the bragging rights to a set of great cabinets!

115 works for me. Sometimes a 115 has a bigger box, although that's no guarantee that it will go deeper. But I've heard it said that larger speakers can more easily have longer excursion than smaller ones. Any truth in that?

Yep, exactly. Good ones are neato. Poor ones aren't so neato.

Super. Those drivers are arguably as good as 12s & 15s get.

2x115 = sweet zone.

15s have slightly more area than 2 10s. 15s usually have a higher xmax than 10s. 1 15 is usually cheaper than 2 10s, and lighter, and can fit in a more compact cab.

In other words, a well designed 15 cab will be better than an equivalent quality 2x10.

While I agree that there is no absolute correlation, I think the academic argument has overpowered observation to a slight degree. If you go to your local music shop and audition a large number of 2x10 and 1x15 cabinets you will probably start to notice trends and create your own generalizations that are reasonable, if imperfect.

Science is just as much about observation as it is about measurement, and that observations and measurements both produce data. If you asked a scientist to study the perceived sound of speaker enclosures they wouldn't just read graphs. They would conduct actual studies involving groups of listeners.

Another way to think of it is this. If you are looking at a specific cabinet that is 1x15 and you imagine what the same cabinet (as in manufacturer and product series) in a 2x10 might sound like, your intuition about in which direction it compares is probably right well over 50% of the time.

I would not say "more easily." I would say larger speakers usually have longer excursion than smaller ones. In the vast majority of cases this is true.

Of course there are exceptions. Some larger speakers have small excursions and usually these are cheap. Some smaller speakers have very large excursions and usually these are expensive. For example, there are a few 10s, like B&Cs, with very large excursion that cost around $200 each.

Hi Vince. Yes, have some, lol.

Agree, but of course the 10" Vd is doubled in a 210. Generally though, as mentioned earlier in the thread, a 115 will outperform a 210. Still, a vertical 2 x 210 is a really nice option mainly due to the upper 10 (or upper two 10s) being close to or at ear height. But my preferred weapon of choice is a 215 (armed with 3015s or 15PR400s). No problem with me hearing it & considerably less bread than a similarly performing 2 x 210.