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Does speaker size effect tone or just volume?
- Thread starter fleabee
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billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
- Sep 15, 2004
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Ribbons work well as tweeters because they have very low moving mass. Woofers require a high moving mass, so ribbons aren't practical for low frequency use. If you heard cabs with ribbon drivers that went low they'd have been a cone woofer/ribbon tweeter design.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
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I could have been missing something, I suppose. Basically, the drivers were a thick, film-type material housed in a flat, perforated steel enclosure. I think there was a slight curvature to the enclosures and drivers, but there wasn't any obvious traditional speakers or large boxes in the room.
billfitzmaurice
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They may have been electrostatics, which also work best in the high end. Electrostatics can be run to lower frequencies as well, but only if they're extremely large.
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I think a good example would be headphones vs 18" stage speakers. You can certainly get some wonderful lows thru headphones but you can't hear them a few feet away. Volume = air movement IMHO
scotch
It's not rocket science!
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T
tifftunes
Guest
And therefore, size matters! 4x10s = a 40" speaker... 2x15s = 30" speaker... 40" moves more air than 30" and so forth... More drivers usually = more volume (loudness and/or decibels)...
alexclaber
Commercial User
Area is measured in square inches, not inches.
You need to subtract the frame and surround thickness from the nominal diameter, and then square this number, and then multiply by the number of drivers to compare radiating areas. When you do the maths you'll see that two 15"s have the area of five 10"s.
Alex
There are so many variables that have to be considered when choosing cabs nowadays that I think it is safe to say that each cab should really be interogated on an individual basis...
You can no longer just group cabs and say that 10's will be more punchy or that a 115 will be louder than a 110 or even that a 112 will be lighter than a 410. Sure some generalizations exist but for the most part, the number of exceptions are increasing at a steady rate.
There are so many different options available nowadays, all designed to meet different needs and achieve different goals and sounds. fortunately people's opinions on tone and their gear requirements are just diverse! - it's a great time to be a bassist ;-)
You can no longer just group cabs and say that 10's will be more punchy or that a 115 will be louder than a 110 or even that a 112 will be lighter than a 410. Sure some generalizations exist but for the most part, the number of exceptions are increasing at a steady rate.
There are so many different options available nowadays, all designed to meet different needs and achieve different goals and sounds. fortunately people's opinions on tone and their gear requirements are just diverse! - it's a great time to be a bassist ;-)
Im currently doing some research on which pair of 8 ohm Ashdown MAG cabs to get for my 300w MAG head.
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Alex, can you explain your post in more detail (and in laymans terms for me
) how area determines perceived volume between 1x15/2x10/4x10 if all other factors are the same?
I get the feeling from what I have read on TB, that I am better to have matching cabs but not sure what size and how many. My guitarist has a 150w solidstate Marshall head and a 4x12 cab and I need to be able to be heard when playing bigger venues and he has it up high.
Cheers,
H
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Alex, can you explain your post in more detail (and in laymans terms for me
) how area determines perceived volume between 1x15/2x10/4x10 if all other factors are the same?I get the feeling from what I have read on TB, that I am better to have matching cabs but not sure what size and how many. My guitarist has a 150w solidstate Marshall head and a 4x12 cab and I need to be able to be heard when playing bigger venues and he has it up high.
Cheers,
H
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
Im currently doing some research on which pair of 8 ohm Ashdown MAG cabs to get for my 300w MAG head.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Alex, can you explain your post in more detail (and in laymans terms for me
I get the feeling from what I have read on TB, that I am better to have matching cabs but not sure what size and how many. My guitarist has a 150w solidstate Marshall head and a 4x12 cab and I need to be able to be heard when playing bigger venues and he has it up high.
Cheers,
H
All other factors aren't the same, and it is the other factors that you need to consider when getting cabs. Speaker diameter is not a factor. Basically, you need to pick a cab that sounds suitable, and a number of them sufficient for suitable volume. If a guitarist is excessively loud, best thing to get is a better guitarist, guitarists are far more widely available than bass amplification.
Manchild, you should stick to answering the questions in your own thread that would get you the answers you seek.
Mr.Foxen is a fellow Briton and he's dead right. Excessive volume is a major contributor to failure.
Mr.Foxen is a fellow Briton and he's dead right. Excessive volume is a major contributor to failure.
alexclaber
Commercial User
Im currently doing some research on which pair of 8 ohm Ashdown MAG cabs to get for my 300w MAG head.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Alex, can you explain your post in more detail (and in laymans terms for me
Start here:
http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/speaker-size-frequency-response.htm
Then read all the other tech stuff and BGM columns!
One day the myth that it's a myth that size influences speaker characteristics will once again die, but will be supplanted by the understanding that while it does influences various things, there is also a lot of overlap in specs between sizes.
But until we make significant advances in materials science and engineering, the average low frequency cutoff of a small speaker size will not be as low as that of a larger size. Except of course when we DO make those advances, they will also apply to the bigger sizes, so the smaller sizes will still in fact be behind (when we're talking about low end). If someone actually went through and compiled specs of least a couple of dozen drivers of each size, and then made graphs comparing them, it would be blindingly obvious that the average 10 is going to run out of low end at least a few Hz before the average 15, that it will also have somewhat proportionally less xmax, and that the price difference between them is NOT proportional to their performance (meaning 10s will be more expensive to make a cab of the same performance).
So if your goal is absolute performance (ie louder and lower and cheaper), you want to be using bigger speakers in general (for bass guitar purposes). If you have certain design parameter restrictions (ie the cab needs to be no more than 30 pounds, or has to fit in the glove box of my Kia, etc...), that is when the advances that smaller speakers have made will become useful to you, and get you acceptable or better performance in a more compact space than larger speakers would often allow.
But until we make significant advances in materials science and engineering, the average low frequency cutoff of a small speaker size will not be as low as that of a larger size. Except of course when we DO make those advances, they will also apply to the bigger sizes, so the smaller sizes will still in fact be behind (when we're talking about low end). If someone actually went through and compiled specs of least a couple of dozen drivers of each size, and then made graphs comparing them, it would be blindingly obvious that the average 10 is going to run out of low end at least a few Hz before the average 15, that it will also have somewhat proportionally less xmax, and that the price difference between them is NOT proportional to their performance (meaning 10s will be more expensive to make a cab of the same performance).
So if your goal is absolute performance (ie louder and lower and cheaper), you want to be using bigger speakers in general (for bass guitar purposes). If you have certain design parameter restrictions (ie the cab needs to be no more than 30 pounds, or has to fit in the glove box of my Kia, etc...), that is when the advances that smaller speakers have made will become useful to you, and get you acceptable or better performance in a more compact space than larger speakers would often allow.
