Posted this on the BG side thinking I'd get a few more hits but as I am a double bassist I'll post here. Can I replace an eminence alpha 8" with a beta 8". I'd like the headroom.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Blew a speaker. Can I ...
- Thread starter koricancowboy
- Start date
Actually I don't think you'll gain much. You have more thermal handling but the excursion is actually a tiny bit less. Consider spending the dough on a Faital 8PR200. It would be a huge improvement, but what is the enclosure? How is it ported?
Its an LDS 1x8 3 way. It is ported in the front. Other than that I don't know much about it. I checked the Faital Pro. It is much more than I want to spend.
Nathan Levine said:
+1 I have the LDS 2x8 Three Way. At the time they were built, Don Oatman only had the option of using the B&C Neo's, because the Fatial Pros didn't exist.
The B&C's got to expensive, so Don went with the Eminence. He preferred the B&C, his feeling was that the Eminence 8's were about 80% as good as the B&C's.
As I understand it Don is using the Fatial Pro's now. If I were in your shoes I'd just get that Eminence re coned and save up for the Fatial.
Ric
No, not without compromising the frequency response of your amp cabinet. The Thiele-Small specs for each driver are sufficiently different to lend themselves to different size & style boxes; the Alpha is best suited to a sealed box, whereas the Beta fares better in a reflex (ported) cabinet.
If you grab the specs from the following links, you can plug them into a speaker design program to give you an idea of the difference.
http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Beta_8A.pdf
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
You can also use these specs to track down a driver that's similarly spec'd to the Alpha from somewhere like Parts Express.
Mike,
I have the LDS 2X8 Three Way. Here's a picture of the 1x8 they have a single front port. Don's doing very different cabinets these days and using Faital's. Time moves on. Now that the Crazy 8 is available.
those designs have taken a back seat to the newer, lighter, lower, and smaller cabinets. It has a single front port.
Chances are replacing the alpha for either an beta or a Faital won't work very well. There are to many variables that will be off in cab tuning and crossover, especially in such a small ported cab. Only thing I can think of, besides buying another cab, is copying the LDS design in an extra one way Alpha 8" cab and stack the two of them.
Perhaps the best way to find out, is to contact Don Oatman himself, and see what he says. It is a very tiny little cabinet. I'm not sure that Don even builds these cabinets anymore. They were designed, at the request of his customers, to fill a void, when EA stopped production on the VL 108 and VL 208.
Ric
