10 inch speaker suggestions

[jacotosh]

I'm looking to load up a 4X10 cab. Any suggestions on possible speakers. I'm going for a warm, round vintage tone. They don't need to handle a ton of power. I will only be using a 200 watt tube head. Are the Eminence Legends any good?

 

[RickBlair]

The speaker designers will jump in here for sure, but you can't just stick a speaker into a hole and expect it to sound good. You have to match the speaker parameters to the design of the enclosure.

Rick B.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

+1. The cab must be designed to match the speakers.

 

[Freddels]

How about measuring the internal volume of the cab and also measure and describe any porting? Then the speaker designers here could give you a better suggestion based on what you have.

 

[hbarcat]

+1 to previous posts.


We can probably help if you tell us more about the cab.

Is it a stock bass cabinet or was it designed for guitar? Or is it a custom built cab? Are there currently speakers in the cab? If so, what make and model are they, and if not, can you find out what speakers were in there?

Failing this, measure the cab's dimensions (length x width x height) and determine if there are any ports, and if so, measure their dimensions (diameter x length).

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Interior dimensions, not exterior.

 

[MNAirHead]

This one of the theads that I'd be very touchy on trusting the opinions.

You really want to go to a speaker only store and have them run the Theil ratings for your cab and spec the drivers backward from your target sound.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Yeah, and doing that is a real pain. It's far easier to choose a few drivers, and then build the cab they need. Otherwise, you have to keep modeling dozens of drivers till you find something that roughly fits the cab. Then rebuild the port.

 

[MNAirHead]

Rick.. exactly.. we have a speaker only store here that will do this as a contract service.. well worth the $$$$

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Cool!

 

[jacotosh]

I was actually thinking about getting one of the cabinets from fliptops.net. They offer a couple of different speaker options to load the cabs with.

 

[Sundogue]

This one of the theads that I'd be very touchy on trusting the opinions.

You really want to go to a speaker only store and have them run the Theil ratings for your cab and spec the drivers backward from your target sound.

Trusting the opinions of whom here?

There are some people here that know more about the subject than just about anybody else. I'd be less likely to trust the opinion of even a commercial bass cab builder.

You are right, he needs to know the internal volume of his cab and then find appropriate speakers based on their Theile/Small parameters.

There are no T/S parameters of a cab...just the speakers that go into it.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

You are right, he needs to know the internal volume of his cab and then find appropriate speakers based on their Theile/Small parameters.
.

And then build a dozen or so boxes with different drivers so he can compare them and figure out how to know what a charted response sounds like? And what about impedance and displacement limited power issues? And dispersion? And even if an expert does the work for you and verifies that a driver will work the programs only tell the results below 200 Hz. Most of the factors that create the ephemeral 'tone' of a speaker are reflected in the results above 200 Hz.

Box programs are very useful tools in the loudspeaker design process, but like any tool it's only as good as the knowledge and experience of the person using it. Owning a nice set of wrenches isn't going to get you job on Juniors pit crew.

If you're going to load a cab with drivers yourself it's a total crapshoot whether you'll like the result unless you have tried another cab of similar size loaded with the same drivers. Opinions even from the most experienced in the field as to what might work best for you are still only guesses, educated though they may be.

 

[MNAirHead]

Trusting the opinions of whom here?

There are some people here that know more about the subject than just about anybody else. I'd be less likely to trust the opinion of even a commercial bass cab builder.

You are right, he needs to know the internal volume of his cab and then find appropriate speakers based on their Theile/Small parameters.

There are no T/S parameters of a cab...just the speakers that go into it.

My note is to question everyone who replies..

The original poster did not comment on the dimensions and porting of the box... what tonal textures they liked .. the head driving it etc.

Talkbass is known for folks wanking away "I like my XXXX"

Unless there's exact phyisics being calculated it's all puffery.

A speaker only store knows the charicteristics of drivers.. I've never known any to over sell their stuff.

I made hundreds of dollars of mistakes chasing free advice (I mean opinions).

 

[Sundogue]

Look, we all would like everything to be ideal, but we live in a less than ideal world.

The guy has a cabinet he'd like to throw some speakers in. This is not a big a deal as everyone is making it out to be. There are a variety of choices in speakers that he could put in there and have it work for him, if he can find the cab volume and port tuning (or maybe modify the port if possible).

If he finds the right speakers for that cabinet, he can do it and more than likely it will sound just as good as most of the crap you'll find in a commercially available cab anyway.

Is it going to be ideal? How many commercially available cabs are? How about trying to help him instead?

I have a 410 cab that currently has no speakers in it. I know damn well I can load it with some new speakers by knowing the cabinet's internal volume, porting and the T/S parameters of whatever speakers that will match that cab. Will it be perfect? Show me a cab that is. And if you can show me the perfect cab, I'd still bet that someone will still think it sounds like crap regardless of it's measured output over the entire bass range. No cab is perfect for everyone. And it really doesn't matter how "perfect" a cab is as far as it's measured response. The only response worth measuring is the bass player's response to how it sounds to him. And I would bet 99% of all the bass players playing today are quite happy with less than ideal cabs (and that includes professional touring players) because most use commercial cabs. I'm playing through two 115's I built myself and I would bet they don't measure up to the cab guru's standards here. But you know what? I love them better than every commercial cab I've tried over the last 30 years, so I don't really give a rip what anyone else thinks of them.

Heck, Roger Glover got his signature sound from playing through some Marshall cabs that had some ripped speakers in it (unbeknown to him at the time). Think that was ideal? Some guys love cabs with only 15's (or only 18's) and no mid-range drivers or tweeters and so are missing some higher frequencies. Is that ideal?

The OP only wanted some info on some 10" speakers to put in his existing cab. Some feel he'd be better off using the cab as firewood. I'd be happy to help him if he can get us the internal volume of the cab and the size of the port.

 

[fdeck]

My note is to question everyone who replies..

The original poster did not comment on the dimensions and porting of the box... what tonal textures they liked .. the head driving it etc.

Several people have already commented on this fact.

Talkbass is known for folks wanking away "I like my XXXX"

Unless there's exact phyisics being calculated it's all puffery.

If you are curious about the exact physics, check out my web page. In addition, there is free software available, which will do the calculations. It's physics, but it's pretty elementary. There are at least half a dozen people here who understand it sufficiently to design decent speakers.

A speaker only store knows the charicteristics of drivers.. I've never known any to over sell their stuff.

Any decent driver has published characteristics. The parameters of the box can be computed from its dimensions.

I made hundreds of dollars of mistakes chasing free advice (I mean opinions).

Understood. Welcome to the Internet. I learned pretty much everything I know about speakers from the "free advice" on the Internet. You always have to make a judgment about whose opinions are worth considering. That's life.

The TB'ers who qualify as experts (e.g., Bill) do not downplay the risk that your first few attempts will be less than satisfactory. They rather consistently advise that your best chances come from having the best possible understanding of the underlying technical content.

 

[greenboy]

I'd rather learn than go to a store and have them tell me what to buy ; }

 

[fdeck]

I'd rather learn than go to a store and have them tell me what to buy ; }

Me too. I'll be darned if I am going to let someone else have all the fun. It's like watching a gig when I could be playing. And quite frankly, anything worth doing involves the risk of screwing up.

 

[Sundogue]

Me too. I'll be darned if I am going to let someone else have all the fun. It's like watching a gig when I could be playing. And quite frankly, anything worth doing involves the risk of screwing up.

+ infinity.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

I'm going for a warm, round vintage tone.

I want to point out that this description is about as good as asking for a meal that "tastes good." Everyone has a different idea of the vague terms "warm" and "round."