Cylindrical Cabinets?

[Phil Smith]

Other than car subs, does any one make cylindrical cabinets for bass applications? It would seem like you could have a pretty compact telescoping design. Speaker design yoda's, what say you?

 

[jarrod cunningham]

i have though about this for years and figured there had to be some majic reason why it hasnt been done

 

[David Jayne]

Simple. How do you mount the speakers?

 

[B-string]

It works very well for a sub app. I have an SVS cylinder sub, it was design for home theater and preforms amazing in that use. I have taken on indoor gigs and it excels there as well. The cab it's self is not stout enough for regular use. For bass guitar full frequency use it will not perform well. The driver is designed with a long Xlim, bottom firing with top ports. Not good for projecting low-mid and higher frequencies unless you are playing to the floor and celling.

 

[rpsands]

Takes up more space for the same volume than rectangular cabs, so pointless. Also, you have to work out some way to stack stuff on it.

 

[wave rider]

Tone Tubby does it:
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4x10 or 1x15
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I've never seen them other than online or heard them but have thought they looked interesting. I also like the industrial hemp usage in their speaker cones.

=wr=

 

[R Baer]

Acoustic actually made cabinets like this back in the 80s if I remember right. It was a square cabinet with a round cylinder inside that the driver was mounted into. TO make them even stranger looking, I think the speakers were a bright blue.

 

[Phil Smith]

After thinking about this, I kind of smacked myself on the forehead, doh!, because I use an Acoustic Image combo that almost round with a downfiring woofer and I could see where they could have one firing upwards as well with the controls in the center.

 

[rpsands]

A 28" wide cylinder that is 17.5" deep has a volume of around 10809 cubic inches. A rectangular cab has a volume of around 13720.

Take up the same space. Sooo. Unless you're doing it out of old drum shells for kicks, it makes no sense.

 

[mgmadian]

Other than car subs, does any one make cylindrical cabinets for bass applications? It would seem like you could have a pretty compact telescoping design. Speaker design yoda's, what say you?

I see a big problem for those gigs where you're playing the side of a hill...

 

[tombowlus]

Check out the Link Removed cabs. We'll have a review of one of their cabs in BGM shortly.

 

[PSPookie]

Check out the Link Removed cabs. We'll have a review of one of their cabs in BGM shortly.

I look forward to reading that.

 

[zac2944]

Other than car subs, does any one make cylindrical cabinets for bass applications? It would seem like you could have a pretty compact telescoping design. Speaker design yoda's, what say you?

I like the idea of a telescoping bass cab. I've looked into this type of design before and don't see why it is not possible. It doesn't even need to be round. You could have two rectangular cab halves that nest for portability and can be secured together at a flange to create a large internal space when in use. Engineering the flange to be a good fit could be a challenge and the build could be a little tough. Not impossible though.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

After reading this thread, I want to buy a cheap bass drum, and mount a sub in there. I'd ut it in front of my drummer's kit so it looks like a bass drum, but in reality, run my bass through it.

 

[dog1]

I see a big problem for those gigs where you're playing the side of a hill...

When I first read this yesterday, I got a mental picture of my rig rolling off the stage.

 

[JonathanD]

There is an old thread on bassplayer.com forum where someone goes through the process of making a 115 bass drum cab.

Feet keep it from rolling!

 

[zorf]

The photo in post #6 points out one problem:
Where do you put the amp?

 

[KJung]

Takes up more space for the same volume than rectangular cabs, so pointless.

+1 Makes no sense.

 

[rbonner]

Wellllll, now how about this? Great big round 4X15 or 4X18 cab and on the outside edge you put rubber covering like a tire and roll it into your gig. Very little lifting, will roll over any surface.

Don't use a rack like the tubby, just use a couple wheel chocks.

With the advent of all these new mini SS amps, you could have the amp mounted in the center of the back. Possibly in the middle of the front a full range driver for mids etc.

Then for the non-serious side: For large rigs you could make them self propelled. Possibly it could mow your lawn with proper attachments. Plug it in and it could snowblow your driveway.

Could be used in Afghanistan to not only scare rebels with bizarre music, could be rolled down hills at them in case of emergency. I think there is great unexplored potential here.

BOB

 

[bgavin]

The photo above has the cylinder running in the wrong plane.
A vertical cylinder is what you want... it eliminates edge diffraction.

As noted above, a significant amount of internal volume is lost when converting from rectangular to cylindrical.

Last, the labor to build such a cab is fierce.
This precludes it entirely from the mass market, due to the pricing issues.
The dork factor for a cylinder is very high, which also precludes it from selling well because it doesn't "look right."