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Do all cabs feel like a compromise?

#501
rustyg61 said:
Yes, they do have a very similar response curve, & that curve is flat!
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I agree with the former, but not the latter. Probably flatter than the typical "woofer plus tweeter with a massive canyon in the response where the woofer falls off and the tweeter hasn't kicked in yet" but flat in a bass cabinet from ANY manufacturer is not something I've ever found. You go on to mention studio monitors, which are also commonly not flat. Even monitors costing orders of magnitude more than any bass cab on the market aren't commonly flat in terms of response.

Not that there's anything wrong with non-flat response curves.
 
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#502
silky smoove said:
I agree with the former, but not the latter. Probably flatter than the typical "woofer plus tweeter with a massive canyon in the response where the woofer falls off and the tweeter hasn't kicked in yet" but flat in a bass cabinet from ANY manufacturer is not something I've ever found. You go on to mention studio monitors, which are also commonly not flat. Even monitors costing orders of magnitude more than any bass cab on the market aren't commonly flat in terms of response.

Not that there's anything wrong with non-flat response curves.
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I also suspect that if anyone actually achieved a truly flat bass rig, they'd hate it :)

My studio monitors are Focal. Very respected. I'm amazed at how smoothly they go from super low (rattles the windows) to quite high. I'm very pleased with them, but they ain't flat
 
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#503
dukeorock said:
I also suspect that if anyone actually achieved a truly flat bass rig, they'd hate it :)
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Quite right.

dukeorock said:
My studio monitors are Focal. Very respected. I'm amazed at how smoothly they go from super low (rattles the windows) to quite high. I'm very pleased with them, but they ain't flat
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My current Adams provide similar performance, but again... Not flat. The Barefoot MM27s, which commonly sell for about $10,500 for a pair that I tried recently were SPECTACULAR, but again... Not flat. Much flatter than any bass cab could ever hope for, but again... not flat.
 
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#504
dukeorock said:
I also suspect that if anyone actually achieved a truly flat bass rig, they'd hate it :)

My studio monitors are Focal. Very respected. I'm amazed at how smoothly they go from super low (rattles the windows) to quite high. I'm very pleased with them, but they ain't flat
Click to expand...

I’ve always wondered what a cab with built in Fletcher Munson compensation would sound like? Why try for flat to a white noise generator / analyzer when our ears aren’t flat?
 
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#505
MultiScaleMale said:
I’ve always wondered what a cab with built in Fletcher Munson compensation would sound like? Why try for flat to a white noise generator / analyzer when our ears aren’t flat?
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I played around with that idea with some of my quasi-IP DIY builds, since the DSP has a tweakable "loudness" function. You still have boundary effects from different rooms to deal with, and calibrating levels properly isn't all that easy either. Ambient noise does funny things to our ears.
Yel_wink.gif
 
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#507
silky smoove said:
Quite right.


My current Adams provide similar performance, but again... Not flat. The Barefoot MM27s, which commonly sell for about $10,500 for a pair that I tried recently were SPECTACULAR, but again... Not flat. Much flatter than any bass cab could ever hope for, but again... not flat.
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Those MM27's are so cool! Which Adams do you have? I used to have a pair of S3A's. Love the ribbon tweeter! In the end, I loved listening to music on them more than mixing on em. Also had Meyer HD-1's. My favorites in many ways for mixing, but very little headroom for when the band wants to hear it cranked. Before closing my last studio, we had JBL LSR...can't remember the model number...large and expensive? :) Didn't find them incredible for listening to, but mixes translated really well. My old engineer still uses them for part of his home theater system.

Sorry for the derail!
 
#508
dukeorock said:
Which Adams do you have?
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I just have the trusty old F7s. Very capable monitors that translate well on mixes despite being tighter down low than some of the monitors I've owned previously. The ribbon tweeter (or as Adams describes them "folded foil) are REALLY revealing in the midrange and on up.

dukeorock said:
Before closing my last studio, we had JBL LSR...can't remember the model number...large and expensive? :)
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The LSR range is now the budget range over at JBL. They seem to punch well above their weight class in terms of mix duties. I know a few guys who have them and they absolutely love them for mixing. Evidently they translate really well.
 
#509
silky smoove said:
I just have the trusty old F7s. Very capable monitors that translate well on mixes despite being tighter down low than some of the monitors I've owned previously. The ribbon tweeter (or as Adams describes them "folded foil) are REALLY revealing in the midrange and on up.
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Nice! Heck, for the dough, the A7's sound pretty nice to me.

silky smoove said:
The LSR range is now the budget range over at JBL. They seem to punch well above their weight class in terms of mix duties. I know a few guys who have them and they absolutely love them for mixing. Evidently they translate really well.
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Yep! The ones we had were just released at the time...slightly under $3k for the pair. Not expensive compared to my HD-1's, but not cheap for an above average project studio. There are a couple mastering engineers here in Nashville who still use em. I bought a smaller, cheaper version for my writing room and they were just awful! Now, my living room is my 'studio.' Did a couple records in there, but don't recommend it :)
Reasonably happy with the Focals, especially for the price. About $1k for a pair.
 
#511
Korladis said:
I heard one of my bands' mixes through HD-1s last night. I think I'm going to be ruined for life.
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Pretty great, right? I lucked into my HD-1's. A buddy was a rep for Meyer at the time. I think they sold for around $5,500. He loaned me a pair for at least a year, then finally said I gotta buy em or return em. I think I paid $2,200. But if you think those ruined you, don't listen to your mixes on Barefoot monitors :)

I'd love to hear @DukeLeJeune's studio monitors some time. Dude knows a thing or two about a thing or two
 
#512
dukeorock said:
Pretty great, right? I lucked into my HD-1's. A buddy was a rep for Meyer at the time. I think they sold for around $5,500. He loaned me a pair for at least a year, then finally said I gotta buy em or return em. I think I paid $2,200. But if you think those ruined you, don't listen to your mixes on Barefoot monitors :)

I'd love to hear @DukeLeJeune's studio monitors some time. Dude knows a thing or two about a thing or two
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I worked for Meyer over the summer. HD-1s are quite a bit more than that now.

The studio I was at last night had three. One left, one right, and one in the center because "**** you, we can."
 
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#514
Korladis said:
I worked for Meyer over the summer. HD-1s are quite a bit more than that now.

The studio I was at last night had three. One left, one right, and one in the center because "**** you, we can."
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Haha! Meyer stuff is insane. For some applications, their powered bins make for the very best bass cabs (astronomical amounts of) money can buy. Assuming you have a dozen friends to help schlep em into the gig
 
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#518
beans-on-toast said:
I was ruined by B&W 800 series speakers. If given the opportunity, it’s best just to not to listen to high end products.
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Makes sense :)
I've heard some pretty great B&W home rigs many moons ago. Back when home audiophile stores were around, I was looking for speakers for my first home studio. I asked for a blind listening test, brought my own reference music and just said "don't play anything over $3k, because I can't afford it." Listened to maybe 10 pairs of speakers and walked out with a pair of passive Snells for under $800. Loved those so much. Later, I discovered that Bill Botrell was using the exact same speakers in his home studio. Made me feel all smug and superior :)
 
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#519
agedhorse said:
I used to use UPA-1's and 650 subs a lot back in the day. Great boxes for the day.
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Those still get a lot of love!

When I was maybe 22 (1984?) I had a cycling buddy who was extremely wealthy. He hooked me up with a pair of Dalquist speakers and a Bedinni (sp?) power amp for next to nothing. It was heaven for a young dude at the time :)
 
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#520
CL400Peavey said:
Not really. If you're working with one of greenboy's AB's, then you get to choose a lot of options, but they wont change anything that changes the performance of the design.
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I didn't get that from the post I responded to. In that case, great! BUT I still say you won't really know what you're getting until you get it. Much like a custom bass build. Theoretically parts a,b and c should get you 'x' sound but IME (custom bass orders) you rarely get exactly what you were hoping for. But maybe closer than 'off the rack.'
 

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