Umm, this is a bass cab, right?
Yes, and in fact it's a horn-reflex cabinet
A helmholzresonator(port) with an expanding profile.
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1x 18 folded cab build?
- Thread starter Noot
- Start date
Yes, and in fact it's a horn-reflex cabinet
A helmholzresonator(port) with an expanding profile.
Umm, this is a bass cab, right?
As much as the older MM 412's are bass cabs.
My statement still holds, that particular cab would not be my top choice for demonstrating the capabilities of a horn loaded cab.
The problem is that it's not a real horn, it's a horn-reflex.
When executed well, this type of cabinet can yield 2dB more output then a regular ported cab, but way less then a real rearloaded-horn.
A horn-reflex has approx 2dB more output in a 2octave band slightly above the tuning frequency. That's the region most bassplayers percieve as punchy.
I don't know the tuning frequency of the 115RH, if I had the exact dimensions I could reverse-engineer it.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
So basically, its in an area that most direct radiator cabinets (like standard 4x10's) don't really have much of a problem with. Sounds like a solution searching for a problem. 
Sounds like a solution searching for a problem.
It's just another way of amplifying the rear output of a driver and it just happens to be slightly more efficient and slightly larger....a rear-loaded-horn has better efficiency but is even larger.
Bottomline is you can't have it all in one type of design/enclosure....
Besides that, a horn-reflex has a distinct character that a normal ported cab hasn't, but the player has to deside if he likes that type of colouration.
The small horn-reflex I've build enhances the woody sound of my EUB, I happen to like it better then when I play the EUB through my 210 with coaxial mid/high driver.....But the opposite is true when I play regular bassguitar.
I love folded horns OP. do it.
get yourself 2000+ clean watts, a cross over and build this.
Invalid Link Removed
get yourself 2000+ clean watts, a cross over and build this.
Invalid Link Removed
Who is going to fund the truck to move it, and the cross over and mains to make it work for full range sound?
Who is going to fund the truck to move it, and the cross over and mains to make it work for full range sound?
the same person that wont bat an eye at spending 1K on a subwoofer.
Hah... true. There seem to be a couple Don Quixotes here, tilting at windmills, imagining rabid engineers lurking around every corner, waiting to beset the innocent with graphs and other implements of war.
My two cents on short bass horns -
I used to own a couple short bass horns, and used them for bass once in a while. Those were Cerwin-Vega style, basically half of a w-horn. I've also played through a couple Acoustics.
As has already been stated, the horn lengths are too short to go low. The passband is mid-bass to midrange, roughly. Response gets more ragged as frequency increases, and highs are generally attenuated by going around corners. Still, I found it to be a usable sound, and some may prefer it over direct radiators.
The design makes less sense in this era of cheap watts, but these things do sound different than direct radiators, so I can see the appeal of building one, assuming you don't mind hauling a huge cab around. If I was going to build one today, I'd be more interested in using a 15" or 12" speaker that goes a little higher and doesn't weigh as much. But I wouldn't just scale an 18" design down, because that would reduce horn length, mouth area, and chamber volume arbitrarily.
Frankly, I don't have the technical chops to do a horn design right, or the desire to acquire them. Finding a w-horn design online is easy. Finding one that's optimized for a modern driver is harder.
Thanks guys! My conclusion is that building a horn cab requires some knowledge and skills that I don't have, since it's not as easy as putting together a wooden box with holes.
I will let this idea go and maybe wait for a real one to turn up, as I think I am a good candidate for this kind of cabinet.
I will let this idea go and maybe wait for a real one to turn up, as I think I am a good candidate for this kind of cabinet.
When I went to concerts in the 70s and 80s, everyone was playing thru an Ampeg SVT and Vega folded horns, so I had to have one. I got the speakers cheap and built my own cabinet. I couldn't be happier. Front loaded one 18 and put the other into a folded horn. Low end is incredible. Cuts thru any Marshall stack or equivalent. Can't imagine playing thru anything else.
HOLD THE PHONE.
Before you go ANY further with this idea, read Invalid Link Removed
There's a good reason full range 18" folded horns aren't built anymore, and that 15" full range folded horn designs are rare too.
EDIT: Seems I'm really late to the party and didn't realise it. Lol. My bad guys. Still a link worth checking out.
Before you go ANY further with this idea, read Invalid Link Removed
There's a good reason full range 18" folded horns aren't built anymore, and that 15" full range folded horn designs are rare too.
EDIT: Seems I'm really late to the party and didn't realise it. Lol. My bad guys. Still a link worth checking out.
Okay, but then why does my Acoustic 301 sound better than any other bass cab I've heard? I mean, it sounds REALLY good. Why?
I consider an 18" speaker, regardless of how it is mounted, useless. It is too large and the response too slow to get any tone out of it. A 18" folded horn will move the mud a long way, but it doesn't sound very good.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Large speakers being too slow is one of those myths I thought we'd dispelled a long time ago. That's not how speakers work.
