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Originally Posted by IvanMike how and why to build your own cabinets, and the pros and cons of doing so. |
I do it because it's fun. Everyone needs a hobby. Unfortunately I've got one of those addictive personalities, and my addiction to bass playing has led to other related hobbies, namely live audio and later, cab building.
Cons - well you don't save any money. Lets dispel that myth right now. And sometimes you're experiments don't work, and that can be deflating. And it seems to be a double edge sword in that it takes a certain type of person to grasp the science of it, and another type of person who's good at the construction part. My carpentry skills are in much need of improvement. So even if the cab sounds wonderful, mine often "look" worse than commercially made cabs.
Oh... and people are always trying to sell you whatever drivers they've got lying around .............
"Hey Pete, I've got a JBL E140 at hame. Wanna buy it from me?"
"No thanks, I'm right for now."
"Go on - you could build a cab for it!"
"I don't need another cab"
"So. Build it anyway. You could sell it"
"No I couldn't. You've seen what my cabs look like........."
Someone else 5 Minutes later......
"Pete, I've got some car subs left over from my younger days. Wanna buy em?"
""No thanks, I'm right for now."
"Go on - you could build a cab for it!"
"I don't need another cab"
"So. Build it anyway. You could sell it"
"No I couldn't. You've seen what my cabs look like........."
You get the picture
Pro's - it's very rewarding when it all works out. And you can design things that aren't readily available in stores, a bonus for people like me who live in restricted musical instrument markets.
The biggest Pro for me is learning how do wade through published speaker stats. Learning which specs are meaningful and which aren't.
I'd like to write more but I really don't know where to start. I appreciate Magento's point about having to be patient and read a lot, but unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about that. There's a lot more involved that just whacking a speaker into a wooden rectangle. There's a lot of science to it, and once you've got a grasp of that, then you've got to deal with the "artistic" side of cab building. By than I mean that there is no universal bass cab that EVERYONE likes.
I guess the golden rule is that unless the speaker and cab are designed to work together, even great speakers will sound like garbage. This is why buying replecement drivers is frought with danger. 10's aint 10's if you know what I mean. Some like a large enclosure, some like a small enclosure, some go lower than others, some are louder than others. Buy the wrong one for your existing cab, and it won't sound any good. You might get lucky but you probably won't.
Chosing the right driver means reading up on what "Thiele Small" parameters are. These measured specs, and the formulas that support them determine the cab size and porting. If you're looking to get into cab design, start here. Grab a book and learn these basics. It may seem a by daunting at first but once you understand this part of it, the sky's the limit. Skip this part and you may as well give up. You'll be forced to fumble and bumble around with speaker building software you don't understand and hope that everything is OK, but never knowing for sure..............
I don't want to write a whole textbook here. I'm just trying to give a basic overview of where I stand on that whole cab builing thing.
Cabinets - Building your own - how, why, pros and cons. 
