Could this cabinet work? 6x8?

[ubercore]

At lunch I was thinking about a cabinet layout:

• Light
• 8" speakers
• Tweeterless
• Sealed?

I'm thinking classic vibe here, nothing very modern sounding.

Light

I guess this means neodymium speakers and strong bracing of light cabinet materials?

8" Speakers

After playing an Ampeg B2 15" combo I liked, I got a chance to play the 4x8 version, and really liked it (with the tweeter bypassed). I don't see many 8" designs floating around, though.

Sealed?

Knowing very little about cabinet design, this might not work. The punchiness would be nice, but with 8" speakers might porting be necessary to get some semblance of low end response?

Tweeterless

Not sure what a target upper frequency range would be, but I'd imagine with the right speaker it could be in the 4k-ish range


Overall speaker area would be about the same as a 4x10, I think. Is there something inherently wrong with this setup, or is it a matter of the devil being in the details?

EDIT: A quick google search makes it seem like sourcing the 8" speaker could easily be the hardest part.

[will33]

Sure it could work, question is how well ie: will it do what you need it to do? Too many variables here. Sealed/vented depends on your choice of driver. It may be hard to find 8's that can do much below 100hz that aren't stereo subwoofers. If you don't need output down there, that opens it up a bit.

[ubercore]

Yeah, most of the 8" I found are geared towards being mid drivers. Will need to dig a bit deeper, and maybe look at the characteristics of the 8"ers in the b2 4x8 I liked. Thanks.

[1n3]

Originally Posted by ubercore

Yeah, most of the 8" I found are geared towards being mid drivers. Will need to dig a bit deeper, and maybe look at the characteristics of the 8"ers in the b2 4x8 I liked. Thanks.

Have you looked at the Eminence Alpha 8?

[3506string]

6 bass worthy 8" neo drivers is going to run approx. 600-1000+ and still will likely be close to or out performed by a pair of kappalite 3012HO's

[christw]

I used super cheap midbass woofers in guitar cabinets for a cheap micro rig. $30 cabs, $57 in speakers. It's super mobile and can handle up to medium volume gigs without problems. Tone is actually surprisingly good! They handle a low B all the way up to my GK 1001RB's Master max and preamp about 10-11 o'clock with no boost.

Seen on the left is the 4x6" 2x8" stack.

[MuzikMan]

Sure, it will work, but if light is one of your requirements a multi driver cabinet is not the most effective approach. I built a 4x8 verticle array with Eminence Alpha 8 drivers and it is HEAVY and no louder than the 1x12 cab I built with an Eminence Kappalite 3012.

Your research has already pointed you to the biggest problem with this idea. There aren't many choices in the low frequency 8" driver world.

[christw]

How about an SWR Henry 8x8? Chef is selling one at a very fair price.

SWR Henry 8x8...$375!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by christw

How about an SWR Henry 8x8? Chef is selling one at a very fair price.

SWR Henry 8x8...$375!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those are great cabs. Tuned very well to produce a surprising amount of bass.

Another issue to consider is impedance of a 6x8 cabinet. 6 8 ohm speakers in series parallel will give you 5.3 ohms which should be good for most SS heads, not perfect for a tube head at 4 ohms. Similarly, if you find 4 ohm 8's you'll end up with 2.67 ohm cab so make sure your head can do 2 ohms, and so on and so forth.

[ubercore]

Hmm, all very interesting points. The SWR 8x8 looks pretty tempting... I very well may try to purchase it. I'm going to do some more research into the ampeg 4x8 I've been enjoying so much, to try narrowing down specifically what it is I like, maybe 8" isn't necessary for what I want.

Thanks so much for all the feedback!