It's probably not even that good due to a drop off in efficiency at higher wattage.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
12" cab, high power handling recommendations
- Thread starter BecDeCorbin
- Start date
-
- Tags
- power
It's probably not even that good due to a drop off in efficiency at higher wattage.
It is a poor way of saying to increase 10dB of volume you need 10 times the power. 10dB being doubling the perceived volume. This is also assuming everything else is equal, which of course is never the case.
Oh, that's....bad. So do you think replacing the filter with a new one will be better?
Yes. Thanks for input. I wasn't sure if the poster was kidding or not. No imogee to indicate humor.
Wouldn't want to see some nubie ditch his 50 watt speaker for a 500 thinking it would be louder. There are way too many cab myths as is without forwarding another.
Like I said, sarcasm filter gummed up here.
Yes! No problem with what it says on the back of the cab. I looked at this same thing. My inquiry was about why they listed this cab as being 500 RMS. If they had just left off the RMS, I would have been OK with the website listing.
I've been using an Acoustic BN112 for a few months and it's really loud and capable of taking a lot of power.
Its official rating is 400 Watts. It's an inexpensive cab that really delivers even against the big names.
Form factor, top handle and weight are really excellent too.
Invalid Link Removed
You won't get the wooos and ahhhs from other bass players drooling over a boutique name plate but you get real good tone.
Its official rating is 400 Watts. It's an inexpensive cab that really delivers even against the big names.
Form factor, top handle and weight are really excellent too.
Invalid Link Removed
You won't get the wooos and ahhhs from other bass players drooling over a boutique name plate but you get real good tone.
Audiokinesis makes 2 cabs that would fit the bill - the Thunderchild 112 or the Hathor 1203. You can get 2 of each, which would be a mighty rig, or 1 of each to get the best of both (they place nice together, according to folks here).
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,086
- 5
- 221,200
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Frankly, I don't know of any 12" drivers that are suitable to bass guitar (with acceptable bass guitar mid voicing) that will be able to safely handle 550 watts (RMS) with any kind of reasonable lifespan. With a compact cabinet, and the expectation of good low frequency performance, you will find that you will exceed the mechanical power handling, and in order to increase the mechanical power handling (driver design adjustments) you will lose almost all of that increased power handling with a corresponding decrease in sensitivity... ie. crossing the point of diminishing returns, because you will be so far into power compression that any gains from power handling are offset by losses in sensitivity (including static sensitivity plus power compression losses)
Driving any 12" cabinets with that kind of power will require good common sense and judgement, along with a steep HPF set around 40Hz (or higher), seems like a lot of effort to gain a "net nothing" from your speakers (whatever they might end up being) with big potential for damage.
And, before anybody dogs on me for disparaging other speakers, I am talking in general about all known drivers that I have worked with, including drivers that I have designed. I know there is a lot of bragging about how this or that cabinet can "take the power", but if you were to actually measure the net gain, (via a large signal model) you would find that it's not even close to what the "small signal" model would predict... and everybody uses the small signal model to extrapolate the large signal performance (which is VERY misleading IMO)
Driving any 12" cabinets with that kind of power will require good common sense and judgement, along with a steep HPF set around 40Hz (or higher), seems like a lot of effort to gain a "net nothing" from your speakers (whatever they might end up being) with big potential for damage.
And, before anybody dogs on me for disparaging other speakers, I am talking in general about all known drivers that I have worked with, including drivers that I have designed. I know there is a lot of bragging about how this or that cabinet can "take the power", but if you were to actually measure the net gain, (via a large signal model) you would find that it's not even close to what the "small signal" model would predict... and everybody uses the small signal model to extrapolate the large signal performance (which is VERY misleading IMO)
Ditto. I've just gotten one of these, and it's really got me thinking about reconfiguration of my stuff.
My vote goes to Audiokinesis, Baer, or the Genzler array. All three are impressive and will handle a surprising amount of power. At the Seattle get together we were feeding Passinwind's PW-8's 650 watts through a single TC112. That would have been enough to carry that entire venue with ease. The PW-8 does have an adjustable HPF, though.
Exactly. It's the efficiency, not the power handling. We often forget that were are looking for high SPL at low power input rather than a driver being able to "take it."
I used to have an Avatar single 12 cab that handled 500 watts and sounded good, but it was only 95dB @1w/m. Took all kinds of power to get it to actually do anything. In the end, I look for drivers that are high efficiency with high output, rather than high power handling.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,087
- 46,071
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
True that, but in reality the average wattage the cab was seeing once you take crest factor/duty cycle into account was probably something like 1/4-1/3 of that. And that was silly-loud compared to my typical actual gigging volume.
Even then, that little thing was scary loud, even with the low B's! I think it might have even had a little left. Next time we need to put your PW-6 through my DB728 into it. That might be too muchof a good thing, though.
