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Double Bass Acoustic Cab Shootout

#21
oooh boy, looking forward to hearing that, keep us posted for sure!
I'm trying to make this upgrade or transition as cost friendly as possible, I don't buying and reselling gear often; my Schertler has been with me for years now. I could possibly change but that would be at least another 500 on top of what I'm looking at. Ya'know.
Honestly, all this thinking about amps has me practicing on being louder acoustically anyway. It's got to sound good from the start, no amp will fix a bad sound IME.
 
#24
clink said:
Cacophonic,
Acoustic Image makes great amps and I didn't intend to imply otherwise. My experience has been than the low end was soft and kind of pillowy. Maybe it's the preamp voicing. Much has been said about this subject already.
Click to expand...

clink,

Please be assured that no umbrage was taken. Just relating my own experiences. I have no personal investment in gear and no connection whatsoever to any manufacturer, including AI.

FWIW, AI claims that their design philosophy is to build electronics that amplify an input signal without imparting any coloration. If that is the case (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), their designs employ no "voicing." I have not experienced a pillowy-ness that others may have noted, at least in comparison with the neutral-sounding Stewart that preceded the AI (two, now) in my rig. Lastly, and in keeping with the topic of the OP: it seems to me that the biggest differences in tone, or timbral coloration if you will, from one rig to the next, is in the choice of speaker systems. And post-lastly, if you end up going through the house system, all bets are off. ;)
 
#25
some pics
8" in a box about 10 1/2 x 10 1/2x 13 9.3 pounds
Corners (Penn-Elcom small) are on their way. Getting shorter black screws and washers for feet. (you can see them in the port) The inside of the ports still needs black Duratex. Goes the same volume or louder than my Wizzy 10 and sounds a lot better to my ears.
 

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#26
12" Eminence 3012ho in a box 13 1/4x13 3/4x 20. They sent me the wrong corners--still waiting. You can see the small anchors that the corners attach to. It weighs 15 3/4 pounds. Sounds great---not quite as loud (by a small margin) than my Thunderchild. This is brighter and more punchy than the Thunderchild---but much more musical than the Wizzy 10. Goes way louder than the M-Line and at about half the weight. Again I have to get in there and paint (Duratex) further in on the ports.
 

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#28
Mike, very nice!
I made two cabinets based on Fdeck's design using the 2512 driver. It sounds better to me and goes much louder than the Wizzy 10. Your 3012 box is probably an improvement on that.

I used 1/2" birch ply. Is the composite lighter still? Benefits?

Interested in the 8" box. Are you planning to sell them or open to sharing your ideas?
 
#30
Beautiful job, Mike! That 9.3 pound 1x8 cab that can compete with a Wizzy 10 is absolutely killer!!

And the 3012HO is a magnificent driver. Yeah you have to boost the low end a bit, but the native efficiency is so high that you still come out ahead of the game relative to a less efficient woofer that doesn't need low-end boost. And under 16 pounds! WOW!!
 
#32
Hi Francis
It's a Faital 8PR200. 8.15 xmax. Almost all 10's in commercial cabs have an xmax of 4mm or less, so this can actually move equivalent or even more air. By the way, a small cab like this would REALLY benefit from your new, soon to be released, ultra cool, can't live without, 12+12db/octave high pass filter!!! Actually any cabinet would benefit, but a cab like this (with double bass) would go a lot louder! Also, I'm looking for suppliers for black finish screws and washers. One cool thing about the Faital is that it's octagonal. The screws sit just outside the grill so that instead of needing grill clamps a simple washer will suffice. Right now I'm just using black nylon washers, but will find a more elegant looking washer. Another cool thing is that on both speakers the drivers are recessed back enough that the grill sits back pretty even with the baffle.
 
#33
DukeLeJeune said:
Beautiful job, Mike! That 9.3 pound 1x8 cab that can compete with a Wizzy 10 is absolutely killer!!

And the 3012HO is a magnificent driver. Yeah you have to boost the low end a bit, but the native efficiency is so high that you still come out ahead of the game relative to a less efficient woofer that doesn't need low-end boost. And under 16 pounds! WOW!!
Click to expand...

+ 1 on all counts. Love my 3012HO box (very different from Mike's, though) for upright, although I cut mids rather than boost lows.

I wonder if that Faital is the 8" Greenboy's been looking at for his proposed design. Great minds, and all that! :)
 
#34
I think it is. He and I have talked about it. I found out about it a while ago. It's a great driver. Very hi fi. It's funny, after being re-bitten by the speaker building bug I was looking online and saw this driver and said "Hmmmm". Then it turned out that a friend had 2 that he wasn't using. So there it started. There is also a very nice Ciare 8". Weighs 9#, though. That's the same as this finished cab!
 
#35
Mike Arnopol said:
Hi Francis
It's a Faital 8PR200. 8.15 xmax. Almost all 10's in commercial cabs have an xmax of 4mm or less, so this can actually move equivalent or even more air. By the way, a small cab like this would REALLY benefit from your new, soon to be released, ultra cool, can't live without, 12+12db/octave high pass filter!!! Actually any cabinet would benefit, but a cab like this (with double bass) would go a lot louder! Also, I'm looking for suppliers for black finish screws and washers. One cool thing about the Faital is that it's octagonal. The screws sit just outside the grill so that instead of needing grill clamps a simple washer will suffice. Right now I'm just using black nylon washers, but will find a more elegant looking washer. Another cool thing is that on both speakers the drivers are recessed back enough that the grill sits back pretty even with the baffle.
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Mike,

Thanks for the info. I'll throw that driver into my modeling program and take it for a spin. How do you feel about its off axis performance. It occurs to me that the same rooms where I don't need a big amp, I often have to put my speaker in some awkward place, and a better angular spread would probably help a lot.

For black hardware, I'm reminded of what the mechanical engineers at my workplace call the "pocket anodizing tool," which is of course a black Sharpie marker.

Since this just jogged my memory, and we're all on the line here, I discovered a bug in my speaker modeling spreadsheet, which I discovered en route to writing a new modeling program. This is mainly for Duke, who may be my only user.

As for the 12+12, I should reveal what I'm up to. Greenboy contacted me about the idea of making a hi-pass filter with a 24 dB/octave slope. I sketched up a design and made a prototype. My intention is to make this a DIY project that a beginner could possibly tackle without any custom or specialized parts. If this is successful, I could also think about product-izing it.

Despite the neo shortage, I think we're entering a golden age of bass speaker building. So many cool things have come together in the past few years.
 
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#37
Mike Arnopol said:
some pics
8" in a box about 10 1/2 x 10 1/2x 13 9.3 pounds
Corners (Penn-Elcom small) are on their way. Getting shorter black screws and washers for feet. (you can see them in the port) The inside of the ports still needs black Duratex. Goes the same volume or louder than my Wizzy 10 and sounds a lot better to my ears.
Click to expand...

Looks great! Are you running this cab with a crossover or straight in from the power amp?
 
#38
fdeck said:
<SNIP>
As for the 12+12, I should reveal what I'm up to. Greenboy contacted me about the idea of making a hi-pass filter with a 24 dB/octave slope. I sketched up a design and made a prototype. My intention is to make this a DIY project that a beginner could possibly tackle without any custom or specialized parts. If this is successful, I could also think about product-izing it.

Despite the neo shortage, I think we're entering a golden age of bass speaker building. So many cool things have come together in the past few years.
Click to expand...

This sounds very promising! Add a 12+12 LPF, and we've got the top and bottom covered!
 

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