diy isobaric 210 cab

[Colledge123]

at the moment in my arsenal i have an ashdown mag 600 with a 210t and 115 cab, both 8 ohm. the amp is 600w @ 4 ohm. Ive also got an ashdown mini stack (2 small 10" cabs and a 60w head). I'm looking for a bit more power and was wondering what are the complications of making an orange style isobaric cab from my 2 small 10" cabs, what do i need to take into consideration in my designs? Each speaker is rated at 60w @ 16 ohms. so i'm thinking of wiring the two speakers up in parallel for an 8ohm load and then wiring that up in parallel with either the 210 (i suspect the same speaker cones as the smaller cabs) or the 115 to create a 4ohm setup to get the full 300w out of that channel. anyone see any problems with that?

[billfitzmaurice]

An isobaric 2x10 has the same output capability as a standard 1x10, an isobaric 4x10 the same output capability as a standard 2x10. I don't think that's what you want.

[Colledge123]

i was under the impression from reading a bit about the orange isobaric 212 cabs that they are substantially louder and much deeper than a single 10" cab and just lack in the high end, but i have other cabs for that.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Colledge123

i was under the impression from reading a bit about the orange isobaric 212 cabs that they are substantially louder and much deeper than a single 10" cab

I would say so, just as most 1x12s are louder and deeper than most 1x10s.

[DukeLeJeune]

As Bill says the limiting factor will still be x-max. The outer woofer is especially susceptible to being driven into over-excursion because in the bass region it behaves as if it were in a much larger enclosure.

In the midrange region, the inner woofer blaring away into the back of the outer woofer does not sound good. It sounds boxy and unnatural. In my opinion you need to roll off the inner woofer so that it is not contributing up in the midrange region, and this complicates the design. Even then, you have such a small chamber between the two woofers that adequately absorbing the backwave midrange energy is a challenge.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to build a good isobaric system, but it's not as easy as it looks at first glance.