210 Cabinet - replace speakers, or buy new cab?

[onosson]

I bought a used Avatar Neo 210 cabinet about a year and a half ago. This has been my rig for smaller rooms, and has served me very well. A couple of weeks ago I brought it to a gig, and discovered that both speakers were blown! (Luckily the bass player I was subbing for had his Ampeg 115 upstairs at the club...)

I suspect that one of the speakers was blown when I got the cabinet, or it blew at some point when I was using it, and I just never noticed the whole time. At any rate, I'm considering whether it's worth it for me replace the speakers, or pick up an entirely new cabinet. I don't want to shell out much more cash than it would cost to replace them. I'm looking at roughly $100 per speaker plus taxes (I'm in Manitoba, so add 12% for that), so I wouldn't be averse to spending somewhere up to $350 or so for a cabinet. I've been looking everywhere for used, but there don't seem to be that many kicking around right now...

The Avatar Neo 210 was rated at 500W at 4 ohms, though I seriously doubt it was actually able to handle that much power. I was running it off my Hartke LH500, though I tried to make sure I didn't push it too hard (evidently, I didn't try hard enough!)

A couple of the cabinets I'm considering are:

Ampeg SVT210AV: this retails at $330, and is rated at 200W at 8 ohms, so I'm a little concerned whether it will give me enough "juice". The LH500 is supposed to put out 350W at 8 ohms. I do really like the Ampeg tone (I had an Ampeg 410 at one point which was really nice).

Marshall MBC115: this retails at $325, and is rated at 300W at 4 ohms. I'm looking at this one because my main cabinet is a Marshall MBC410 (600W at 4 ohms) which I absolutely love, though I wouldn't be able to run these together off the Hartke, as it doesn't go below 4 ohms. I also haven't used 15s in a while, though it was my main setup for the longest time until getting my current Marshall.

Hartke HX112: this retails at $375, and is rated at 300W and switchable between 4 and 8 ohms. It has the advantage of being designed to match my Hartke head. I've never used a 12" speaker, though, nor the Hydrive speakers, and I know they get mixed reviews...

If anyone has any thoughts/suggestions/opinions I'd love to hear them! In the meantime I'll keep on hauling my 410 to every gig... I love it, but it's seriously heavy! Well, at least it's not an 810!

[Jaco who?]

It will cost more than you want to spend, but you could get 16 ohm Deltalite IIs from Dave at Avatar for pretty much the same price as the stock Deltalite IIs along with the crossover he uses for the 8Ω version, and then get another 8Ω Avatar 210 to run along with it.

The problem with the cabs you listed is you'll run into the same problem you had with a single 2x10 - you won't have enough speaker area and you'll wind up blowing them too.

You could also get the drivers the Avatar came with, fix it, sell it, and buy a decent 2x12 of some sort for your smaller stand alone cab. Sorry, but pretty much any single 2x10, 1x15, or 1x12 isn't going to cut it. The single 4Ω Avatar TB153 with the Kappalite 3015LF would be an exception, but it will run you a tad over $500 shipped. It might not be much of an advantage from your 4x10 weight or size wise either.

[fcoda]

I use the 2x10 as a stand alone and with a Avatar 2x12 [ 4 ohm ] with a Crown 602 that does about 600 at 4ohms. I also blew 1 of my 10s in my Avatar 2x10 neo 4 ohm and thought about replacing the cab. I replaced the speaker for 118.00 including shipping cost , replacing 2 will double your cost so it is a tuff call. Are the cabs that you are considering much better than the Avatar ? ...... I think the avatars can handle near the power as advertised. I would replace the speakers but you need to do what works for your pocket and sound.

[bassplayer8953]

I just bought a pair of Celestion drivers from Avatar; they're having a blow-out on them, I paid $68 for 2 - delivered! The Avatar/Celestions brought a 2 x 10 I had, with tired drivers, back to life, sounds like new. Check their website under specials & clearance (also detailed here on TB in hot deals) and you'll probably find that's the cheapest way out. Certainly less than 100 - 120 per driver.

[impactwrench]

I think if you changed them to 16 ohm speakers (to achieve an 8 ohm cab) you also have to change the crossover. But I think that might be the way to go if you get some decent speakers for not much $$$. If you have to drop $236 on speakers and then a crossover, might as well order a new avatar 210 in 8 ohms, or a pair of them. Your amp was definitely too much for a 2x10, especially at 4 ohms. You would have needed to be very careful to the speakers being over extended.