Using 8" drivers

[m.oreilly]

i have an old mesa 1x15 (ev driver) box sitting in a storage locker, and was thinking of redoing the baffle, and going 4x8" for a small, tight, lighter than my berg box alternate. i was checking out these as the drivers...thoughts?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by m.oreilly

i have an old mesa 1x15 (ev driver) box sitting in a storage locker, and was thinking of redoing the baffle, and going 4x8" for a small, tight, lighter than my berg box alternate. i was checking out these as the drivers...thoughts?

You'll squander the added midrange response of eights by having them in a 4x4 arrangement instead of vertical. As for the low end, the displacement (what really matters) of four Beta 8s is 250cc. That of an average fifteen is 400cc, and a better fifteen as much as 850cc.

[rpsands]

Not to mention that four beta 8s nets a sensitivity of the same as a Kappalite 3015 just about, with half the displacement. And costs more, and weighs more. Yeah. Pretty pointless.

Also, Beta 8s have such a high Fs that their displacement is not the deciding factor in their effective low end.

In order to prevent the response from starting to roll off from 200hz you need to tune the cab up around the 60-70hz range, which gives you decent bass response down to the -3db point of 60hz, but response drops like a proverbial stone after that, while excursion does the reverse. Without a steep high pass filter around ~55hz, you are looking at exceeding xmax every time you hit an open note below the A string.

Bottom line, Beta 8s are not good bass drivers and there are no bass drivers that provide any serious advantage over 10s -- which come in cheaper and lighter. The tiny gains in off-axis response come at huge sacrifices to sensitivity or low end or both.

Since 10s are decent off-axis to a 2khz crossover frequency, you might as well just cross over to a horn between 2khz and 2500hz.

[m.oreilly]

"there are no bass drivers that provide any serious advantage over 10s"
so those cabs with a bunch of 5" or 6" drivers are...?

[Sartori]

Beaming like crazy, presumably.

[rpsands]

Originally Posted by m.oreilly

"there are no bass drivers that provide any serious advantage over 10s"
so those cabs with a bunch of 5" or 6" drivers are...?

Earning your money through marketing rather than engineering, generally.

[rpsands]

Originally Posted by Sartori

Beaming like crazy, presumably.

And comb filtering like a boss, since most of those cabs are at least 2 woofers wide if not 4.


Everyone loves the Henry 8x8 but it's not any louder than a quality 4x10 and beams even worse because the woofers are so far apart--geometry's a biatch like that, but nowhere near as nasty as acoustics.

[elavate7]

i have a 4x8 and i love it!!!

[5sicks]

Rocket surgeon doesn't know how to link it but look at Phil Jones cabs for the ultimate multi-small driver stuff. Highly praised by some heavy hitters. I never saw one but I don't rule anything out since I heard of resurrection.

[m.oreilly]

but they're not 10" drivers!!!

[m.oreilly]

http://www.philjonespuresound.com/products/?id=99

[rpsands]

Yes. And by ultimate, he means you can spend as much for every 5" woofer in your cab as you would for each 10" woofer in an ordinary cab, roughly. Sometimes a little less than that.

What I can't believe is someone can claim 96db from 35-15khz from 6 5" woofers. That's like saying that the cabinet has better low end extension and comparable sensitivity to an Ampeg 610HLF...and louder and as low as an Acme B4.