Pretty sure the EA Wizzy's use drivers with ferrite magnets. (At least the two I've owned did not use neo magnets.)
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Does anybody else dislike Neo speakers?
- Thread starter powellmacaque
- Start date
Mine is pretty new. Their web site says "Woofer: Proprietary EA 12" neodymium woofer." I have the 12E. It weights 30 lbs.
They're usually in cleaner/hifi sounding cabs & that's not my thing. So, yeah... I guess I don't really like them either.
- Feb 3, 2005
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- Endorsing artist: Bergantino Audio Systems and GHS Strings
I've come around. First off, surgery on my neck made weight a lot more important to me than it used to be. Secondly, I think they have improved the sound. The other part is matching up the right head. I have a pair of GK NEO 112 II's. Powered by my GK 1001 RB II, they are bright and somewhat modern I guess you'd say. However, playing them with my Mesa Walkabout Scout, it really warms up the tone considerably.
Lightweight is not a term I'd used to describe the GB NeoX 212T's tone, even though it's a lightweight cab.
Why do some people, regardless of how many times they hear differently from (learned and very well respected) authorities on a subject, argue the opposite opinion?
I've heard neo cabs that sound like a WALL of cabinets and I've heard ceramic cabs that I wouldn't play a radio through.
I've heard neo cabs that sound like a WALL of cabinets and I've heard ceramic cabs that I wouldn't play a radio through.
Probably because some of us, who have played through both types for a number of years, prefer one over the other? I love JBL E140's and have never, repeat, never heard a Neo 15 that came close to the TONE I get from the JBL. I'm not talking SPL here, but, JBL tone. I have slapped JBL 15's in all kinds of cabs and have always been happy with the TONE I get. I can't say that about NEO 15's, including the almighty Eminence 3015, or 3015LF, and, yes, I have tried a fEARful. To coin an old phrase, different strokes for different folks. Your opinion may vary.
Sorry. I should clarify. Posts like this one, for example,
I'm sure your JBL's sound amazing.
are calling neodymium speakers the problem, without regard to the design of the cabinet used.
I'm sure your JBL's sound amazing.
No problem, and, as I said in a previous post, I use NEO's in a 212 cab. They are fine and not lightweight sounding at all. I am constantly hoping that one day, someone will design one that sounds like a JBL. Check out this thread, and you will see I'm not alone.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/why-jbl-speakers-not-more-popular-787993/
Because we let our ears judge. And our ears sometimes disagree with what very well respected authorities say...
If a pickup expert tells me Neo pickups sound exactly the same as Alnico pickups if they are designed in a certain way and I try dozens and dozens of Neo pickups that are completely different from every Alnico pickup I know MY EXPERIENCE will tell me that NEO pickups sound different.
If a scientist tells me the sky is not blue, but it seems that way because the light from the sun passes through gases and this and that, TO ME, the sky will still be blue.
Agreed.
I'll say it once, and no more (other TBer's have noticed this before). The debates, in all their dimensions, are millenia-old. Cf. Aristoxenus vs. the Pythagoreans. Who won? Me, you, that poster over there?
Some things are ineluctable, most musical things aren't.
I don't mean to say that I wish they could make a neo that sounds exactly like a 30 year old cab. What I mean is, why doesn't someone like Aguilar, take a very popular cab like the DB series and simply make them with Neo's that are 30% lighter, but sound exactly the same? I think there would be a giant market for lighter cabs that sound as good as the ceramic equipped ones.
I have heard SWR has acheived something like this with the golight series, but I haven't been able to play one.
To all you engineers out there: does the weight of the cab itself effect the tone? Is it impossible for a lightweight cab so have the same sound as a heavier one?
billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
- Sep 15, 2004
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Because those who don't understand how things work have to come up with some explanation; that's called human nature. Once upon a time we all believed that the sun rotated around the earth too. Despite overwhelming evidence it only took 400 years for the Catholic Church to finally admit that Galileo was right, and that the Pope wasn't so infallible after all. Neo has only been around for 26 years, so it will take a bit longer for the Luddites to come around.
What experts are saying is not only that the magnet material alone doesn't affect tone but that all neo drivers don't sound alike, nor do all ceramic drivers sound alike. If they did then there would be no need for a few hundred models of drivers. One of each size from a single manufacturer would suffice.
Ask Aguilar.
No more so than does the magnet material. It's not what you make it from, it's how you make it that counts.
I don't believe my ears hear the same thing day to day. I could set my EQ and be ecstatic, but tomorrow it won't sound the same to me... There are a slew of other variables that come into play: The amp, the room, speaker placement, cabinet design, popular opinion...
So, when a trusted source tells me the only difference is the magnet material--guess what--I'm listening.
I'd bet some of our ears aren't nearly as good as we think they are.
Can you say EMBARGO?
I'm tired of seeing their junk overloading our stores, anyway.We have enough mines here, that were closed years ago because China flooded the market with the minerals required for magnets.
Embargos and boycotts never work. People just want their stuff at cheap prices and very few people really care where it's made.
