Sunn 610L design vs. traditional design

[superbassman2000]

After looking at the monolith cabs, I saw that sunn 610L copy and it reminded me when I saw a 610L at a music-go-round a few years ago and being interested in the design. The difference, for those of you that don't know, is that the sunn has 2 columns of 10s that are angled so that they are facing each other slightly. Is there any sonic difference in them facing each other vs. all the speakers facing the same direction?


and just for visuals:


vs.

[will33]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

Is there any sonic difference in them facing each other vs. all the speakers facing the same direction?


and just for visuals:


vs.

Absolutely there is, dispersion. The higher you go in frequency, the more directional it is. Crossfiring the speakers like that spreads more of your sound in a wider arc in front of the cab so you can actually hear clear mids if you're off to the side a bit instead of directly in front of it. If you're using your rig to play the room, you'll have more of your sound getting to more of the audience instead of having a hotspot in the middle where people are getting their ears pinned back and mud off to both sides.

That's a well-done 610. If I were to do a 610 or 810, it would look like that.

An even clearer representation of the difference is to listen to a guitar 412 played outside. There's a spot when you're centered on the cab where your scalp is getting peeled off and it's all mud if you move a bit off center.

That crossfiring principle is the idea behind BFM's guitar cabs as well.

[superbassman2000]

I can see how it works for guitar, but does that translate to bass at all?

[will33]

Much of your tone, character and defintion are in the midrange even if you think of it as a "bass" instrument or like a "bassy" sound. One of my main gripes with inexperienced soundmen. They think bass only means "bass", which means low frequency with no definition which means it's hard to tell what the bass player is actually playing, you just notice something is missing if he stops.

This holds true for those of us (like me) who like a bass to be lowmiddy and bassy, not just for the ultra modern, icepick mids and treble zing sound.

[will33]

You might not hear as much of a difference if your sound was a MM or P strung with flats with the tone rolled all the way off and played with mittens on.

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

I can see how it works for guitar, but does that translate to bass at all?

It does, but that configuration removes cabinet volume, which kills low frequency response. Besides, there's a better way to get dispersion with bass, which is to use smaller midrange drivers.

[superbassman2000]

so let's say I want LDS to make a 610 for me--would I be better off telling them I want the angled configuration, or would I be better off just straight up ordering a forward firing 4x10/2x6(mid drivers)?

[will33]

So you build a little deeper to make up for it. Of course, crossovers/drivers working in passbands that are their strong suit is way better but for a no nonsense/oneway/easy build it's a definite improvement over a lot of stuff out there.

[edbass]

I'm pretty sure one of the primary reasons that Sunn went with the angled baffle was to utilize the existing 40X24X15 box that they also used for the 100S, 200S, Sceptre, 215S, 312S, etc., enclosures.
Bass response wasn’t high on the priority list, because while the 610 configuration is now commonly associated with bass cabs, Sunn marketed and sold the 610S/M/L as a guitar cabinet.

The "L" designation was for "lead", they used "B" for bass cabs