Cool. Please update when you have occasion and some time with them.I was messaging with Mike this past Wednesday. He was ready to ship a pair of speakers to me. He's semi-retired in that he is limiting how much work he's taking on, but he's still building speakers.
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Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia
- Thread starter kesslari
- Start date
NOTHING stops like an MVW cab IME. I mean, sealed cabs do of course but I never seem to get enough of, or the right kind of lows with them, at least with a 5-string. When you do get that stop with enough meat/heft there is nothing like it to help create tension in a tune .... just love that.
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The 18's arrived in fine shape. Mike finished them in white for me and mirrored the tweeters (they look very sharp - I promise to post a pic later
). They are going to be used as the main speakers in our new sanctuary in a couple of months. Instead of the on/off switch for the tweeter, there is now a very nice attenuator mounted in the same position. They sound very nice with a bass. Super articulate with lots of detail in the mid-range. I hooked them up to my home stereo, but my living room is just too bright and reflective since I threw away the old shag carpet and installed laminate flooring. I need more sound absorbing/damping objects in the area...
Guys I recieved my bergantino HP2x and got out a few cabs.... just wanted to say I've never heard the bottom end sound so solid on that little 1,8, really kills with these cabs ...gonna get the bodai 2,8 out I guess lol...been mostly playing with F115 outside and berg nxt112 smaller gigs lately but maybe time the mas to come back out for some gigging...
The 18's arrived in fine shape. Mike finished them in white for me and mirrored the tweeters (they look very sharp - I promise to post a pic later
I will post pics after we get them mounted on the walls at church. We haven't had time to make mountings for them and they are still on the floor...
Does anyone know the 8” Ciare speaker model Mike was using in his designs? IIRC, Ciare added those to their catalog, and i think they are still readily available. However, Ciare has a bunch of 8” woofers, and I’m not sure which it is.
I have an MAS 18 with a bad 8” Eminence speaker. I think it needs to be reconed, but I’m not exactly sure. Getting a re-cone kit from Eminence is of course impossible. I was thinking of getting the Ciare with the hope that it’ll be close enough spec wise to work with the cabinet and crossover.
I have an MAS 18 with a bad 8” Eminence speaker. I think it needs to be reconed, but I’m not exactly sure. Getting a re-cone kit from Eminence is of course impossible. I was thinking of getting the Ciare with the hope that it’ll be close enough spec wise to work with the cabinet and crossover.
Are the Eminence not available? We use three 18's at church, but I have no idea what drivers are in them...
No, they are not. They were custom drivers, and Eminence basically stopped selling to and supporting small builders years ago. They kept increasing their prices and minimum order quantities on custom speakers IIRC.
Edit: Just searched this thread, and it was way back in 2019 that the switch happened, post #4020.
Post in thread 'Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia'
Big E Speakers Part 4 - Quadraphenia
But I’m still not sure about the exact Ciare speaker. The HSG200-44 maybe?
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Our latest 18's are only a couple of years old. Is it likely that they would have Ciare drivers?
- Dec 21, 2007
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I hope someone keeps producing the design. I finally have got in a good mix here in my rural county, and have been playing outdoor gigs w/o being in the PA. The 3rd gen 66 slams in a moderate volume blues and rock band.
There is a local guy who has/had a sound company that handled many venues around Ca. He rode his bike to one outdoor restaurant/tap house gig.
He said he liked my bass playing and could hear it 2 blocks away. BigE dispersion IMHO
There is a local guy who has/had a sound company that handled many venues around Ca. He rode his bike to one outdoor restaurant/tap house gig.
He said he liked my bass playing and could hear it 2 blocks away. BigE dispersion IMHO
Just seeing this - were you able to get hold of Mike/get some resolution?
I wonder if you could write to Ciare and ask for "the woofers developed with Mike Arnopol.". Someone there will know and, if you're politely persistent, your message just might reach them. (If you do learn which models they are, please let us know, here!)
That said, I hope you do get hold of Mike (and that he and everyone here are doing well).
Mike never got back to me. I’ll try reaching out to Ciare next. I tried reaching out to US Speaker as well, but they didn’t respond. This is the speaker I suspect is the right one:
Don't know if the speaker in your cab would have a matching label or part-number (don't know how the timing of Mike's developing it with Ciare and then asking them to release it into their general catalog worked or if part numbers might have changed in the process), but if you're able to view that label on your speaker, the info might prove useful, either way.
Again, be gently persistent.
Here's hoping you get resolution.
Keep us posted!
My cabs all have the original 8” eminence driver, which is not available. I’m hoping the TS parameters of the Ciare are close enough.
Ah, gotcha.
I couldn't tell you. :-/
I believe that Mike's design goals for each of those custom drivers were pretty similar -- and it seemed that some of the MAS/Big E designs, at least, worked well with at least a couple of different drivers. The early, bigger MAS 112s were available with an 18Sound, an Eminence, or a Faital, for instance (stock drivers, those) and the short-lived redesign of the MAS 110 (which I started a thread on, right before the Ciare drivers dropped) were available with a couple of different (I think custom) drivers.
Mike seemed to tweak his cabs and crossovers with each iteration, though, and I'm sure that at least some of those tweaks were driver driven (even though he influenced the design of many of those drivers).
I think your chances are decent and that it's worth a shot, but I can't say anything for sure. It would be good if you could get some confirmation (at least of which Ciare drivers are "Mike's") if not some guidance from Mike, himself.
I sent you a PM. Hope you reach a positive resolution!
P.S. I don't know if big speaker companies like Eminence would re-cone/repair a driver you sent them, for a fee, but maybe worth asking them?
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