2X10 and 1X15; Does it Matter Which is On Top?

[JimmyM]

15" on bottom for me, please. It's the low end cab in a rig like that, and it should be on bottom. I also agree about Bill Fitzmaurice about stacking the 10"s vertically. Look at sound systems these days. Nobody spreads their speakers out horizontally. Everyone stacks them vertically. In the 70's, speaker systems were spread out horizontally because it was thought that they'd give more dispersion to all parts of the room. Nowadays everyone puts the subs on the floor and either stacks or hangs the mid and high speakers in a vertical array because it gives wider dispersion with a lot fewer speakers and a lot less power requirement. I say it's the same with bass.

 

[SundanceChile]

Put them side by side.

 

[treebranch13]

normally it is the 15 on bottom due to size. But, also, amps can use the floor as a medium and the 15 on the floor gives it some nice rumple

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

Most of the time, I'll put my HT210 on top of my HT115. If the room sounds muddy, I'll swap them around.

I've never tried stacking them vertically; Jim B. has suggested this. I'll have to try it out sometime.

 

[Crabby]

My Eden 210XST puts out a lot more deep low end then my Eden 115 cab. I have swapped them around a few times in the past few days and am so far leaning towards the 115 on top as the 210 can then really put pout some serious lows. The rig sounds great either way so its really a matter of preference.

 

[John D Harris]

This may be too simple, but try it both ways and see which one sounds betters. There is no way that it has to be done. Remember the Pirates code, they are more like guidelines than rules.

+1

P.S. This may also be different at any given venue because of boomy rooms.

 

[KJung]

+1 to most of the above. I believe the whole idea of always putting the 'larger cone' on the bottom came from way back in the day when 210 boxes really did lack low end and guys put 115's under them to 'help the low end response'.

I also put the 112 on top of my Berg HT210s/HT122s 'S' stack. The 112 is so 'low end extended' that the entire stack sounds a little to 'bloomy' with that 112 coupled to the floor. Putting the lower voiced cab on top seems to a) provide a fuller tone when standing close to the cab and b) provides a more even tone projected out to the audience.

Interestingly, the HT210/HT115 is just the opposite to my ear, with the HT210 actually having more low end extension than the HT115... so in that case, I would think the 210 would sound 'better' on top.

It all depends on the specific cabs you use... per the above... no rules, just what sounds best.

Edit: Obviously, my comments above assumed tweeters in both cabs. If one of your cabs doesn't have a tweeter, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to put the non tweeter cab on top IMO.