Double Bass AI cabs question

[JI99]

What is the difference between the [discontinued] Contra EX cab and the [current] Coda EX cab?

 

[brianrost]

In Series IV cabs (Coda EX) AI dropped the tweeter which many folks like myself turned off anyway.

If you're asking what's different in the sound, I haven't heard a Series IV cab.

 

[JI99]

Yes, primarily the sound difference.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

I tried a series II and soon after bought a series III. The series III may have sounded slightly leaner but only slightly. This is what I remember several years later. I believe the series III used a Neo woofer. The series IV uses a ceramic woofer. Any difference in sound is probably insignificant given variables in rooms and placement.

 

[Ric Vice]

I tried a series II and soon after bought a series III. The series III may have sounded slightly leaner but only slightly. This is what I remember several years later. I believe the series III used a Neo woofer. The series IV uses a ceramic woofer. Any difference in sound is probably insignificant given variables in rooms and placement.

That would be the principal difference. They were forced to use a ceramic driver, because China kept a very tight leash on the Neodymium. I don't know whether that's eased up or not, but Rick Jones and the AI team came up with a suitable alternative that was nearly the same weight, and sounded
just as good.

 

[Mark Gollihur]

That would be the principal difference. They were forced to use a ceramic driver, because China kept a very tight leash on the Neodymium. I don't know whether that's eased up or not, but Rick Jones and the AI team came up with a suitable alternative that was nearly the same weight, and sounded
just as good.

Over the last few years, they evolved all of the single 10" models (Contra/Coda/Corus*/EX) from the Neo woofer to the ceramic (which added about 16-20 oz). Not long after, they phased out the tweeter in those cabinets, making a 2-way cabinet from one that had been 3-way. IMHO, this was a good move, as the newly refined 5-inch driver handles the highs just as well as the tweeter did, and a 2-way cabinet with 1 fewer crossover and no tweeter brought the weight back down a bit and made for a better sounding cabinet.

These two changes did not correspond directly with changeover from Series III to Series 4; they were rolling modifications that happened on an ad-hoc basis. As for "Contra EX" vs. "Coda EX," it was simply a name change. When Series 4 was released, they discontinued the Contra combo, so they changed the name of the extension cabinet to match the current model combo (the Coda). But they soon realized that the entry-level Contra combo was missed, and lots of folks were asking for it, so they brought the Contra back. But the Coda EX and Contra EX are functionally the same, so should sound pretty similar/identical.

*I could be wrong about the Corus, it may still use a neo driver (?)