a WHOLE bunch of dilemmas with replacing speaker cab parts, preamps, etc...

First of all, let me start by saying that I fully realize how little I actually understand about all of the technicalities of speakers, ohmage, wattage, cab design, and ultimately for this dilemma, finding proper speakers to replace in the cabinets I already own. Hopefully I can walk away from this with a better understanding of how everything works, and how to better avoid situations where I need new equipment once again.

Here's the backstory: I bought a used Carvin RL410 and RL118 from a guy in Tucson. After I plugged it into my Carvin R1000, I realized that the 410 cab wasn't working at all. I put it into the shop to figure out what was wrong with it, and the guy told me that two of the tens were blown as well as the horn, and that all the speakers are run in series so if one doesn't work, none of them do. So I called Carvin and they told me that they didn't carry the Redline series any longer. So I bought yet another used Carvin RL210 cab with a horn off of ebay to replace my broken equipment. I had then transplanted to the 4x10 cab and off I went. Just recently I had another one of the original speakers blow in the 4x10 cab, and found out that this one had been my fault for running the 4x10 and 1x18 cabs bridged.

I needed the cab for rehearsal, so I pulled the original 2x10 speakers out of the cab, found out that they had also been rebuilt, and were not running properly. I have now been without proper misbass drivers for some time now, making it nearly impossible to rehearse with a band.

OK, so now comes the question: I am going to replace all 4 of the speakers in the Carvin RL410 cab with brand new speakers. I was looking at possibly purchasing Eminence Basslite CA2010s. Would this be a good speaker to replace with the cabinet dimensions that I'm working with? I was also told that because of their high frequency response they would negate the need for a horn of any kind. True or no? I have been fairly impressed with the sound of the Eminence speakers, I also own a Fender Bassman 400 combo amp with 2 eminence 10's in it. Hence the reason I was considering replacing the Carvins with Eminences.

Also, can anyone suggest a better speaker if the Basslites are not good for the cab? I'm really new at all of this stuff, and could really use the help, and would rather not settle for buying junk, since it seems to me that i've already done so.

Next question: I've just purchased a Stewart World 1.6 power amplifier off of ebay so that I can actually get rid of all of my Carvin equipment (sorry Carvin afficionados, nothing against any of you) because it hasn't seemed to be up to snuff.

Next question: I have a Rocktron digital preamp (bought it used off of ebay) that crapped out on me. Even though it sounded good and was particularly tweakable, I have no intention of trying to fix something digital as it would cost more than the value of the preamp itself. It was fairly old. What would be a good replacement preamp to look into? I was suggested BBE B-max was good, but I'd prefer to get some more opinions before I take another plunge into something that I'll ultimately be unhappy with.

Some possibly useful info: I play predominantly heavy metal (in the style of bands like SYL) so I need something very responsive (in the low end especially) that will hold up to lots of volume. I also play Jazz, so I need something that will sound very sweet and clean; and I also like to use techniques such as harmonics and finger-tapping.

I know this post is kind of overkill, but I REALLY could use some help as anyone who reads this can tell.

 

the output on the Stewart is 1600 watts RMS @4 ohms, so 800W per side. I'm actually ultimately planning on using the 410 as well as the 210 to compliment the 118 cab, but I'm on a budget right now so the full setup may have to wait a while. So I'm looking for 4 speakers to handle 800w RMS that sound particularly good for a fair price.

here's a pretty good link for the specs on the Stewart 1.6:

http://www.nextgener.com/ngm/stewart/world1-6.htm

 

Since I've seemed to have a lot of problems with the Carvin speakers already, I'd prefer to shy away from using any Carvin products from now on.

Also, where can I find this WinISD program to download?

 

Like I said, I apologize to anyone who is a big Carvin fan. I have really enjoyed the RL118 that I have, and still use it any chance I get. I just have not had much luck with their 10-inch speakers. I talked to a few repairmen as well, and they have said the same thing about the Carvin 10's. That they haven't seemed to perform as well since the late 80's to early 90's.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone. I posted this to possibly get some help on what new speakers I should install into the good cabinets I already own.

ErebusBass, I thought about that as well, but then it'd make the cabs I already own fairly pointless as well as the fact that they would just take up space. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that no one would want to buy scrap parts. Re-coning the speakers is a possibility as well, but it'll cost about as much as it would to buy new speakers, so I figured it'd just be the safest bet to buy something brand new, as opposed to used equipment as some of you noted.

I completely agree that it was a gamble to buy used stuff, especially on good faith, and I'm now paying for that mistake.

If any of you can offer some actual help as to what speakers to replace the 10-inch Carvins with, I'd be more than thankful. So far, it seems that I'm just being chastized for my own noted stupidity. Thank you all for your help so far.

Just so everyone knows, I'm looking into something like a neodymium speaker by eminence or maybe beyma. I'd prefer to stay away from any more junk, or anything used.

I guess I didn't realize that Eminence build speakers for Carvin, because since carvin does all of their own stuff I guess I just assumed that they built their own speakers. Or are they just speakers designed by Eminence or somehting along those lines.

I'd like to get back on track please. If someone can offer some advice as to what I should install into these cabinets aside from Carvin, which speaker brand, and why, it'd be a great help.

 

also, thank you BassmanPaul for telling me where to get WinISD

 

Is there a version of WinISD that works for Macs?

 

OK, well since everyone on here seems to understand how NOT to blow speakers, what do I do? This is a learning experience for me so tell me what to do intead of referring to me in the third person like I posted this thread with no intention of figuring out what the hell I'm doing wrong...