There are some voicing things that we can do more easily with the neo magnetic circiuit that we would have to give up more of with ceramic motors. It's a trade-off and balancing act between a whole handful of variables. There's no reason why we couldn't get very,m very close with the two voicings, but slightly more modern sound is where we see a significant part of the market looking to in the future.
I think one of the reasons the GB cabs compare so favorably to so many other cabinets out on the mass market format-to-format is the fact that there is actual
engineering happening in the design of the cabs.
Many manufacturers start their design process by locating or spec'ing out the cheapest off-the-shelf drivers they can find, throw 2 or 4 like-size ones into a plywood box along with a Dayton Audio 50W tweeter and cheap coil xover, cut a large round hole in it somewhere (not a tubular port with flanged ends as would be proper) and VIOLA!! Bass Enclosure.
Many more make things even worse by giving the design process a half-hearted attempt at port tuning. They again start with the most economical drivers, bear in mind shipping costs associated with maximum dimensions.... and use the T/S parameters published by the Driver Manufacturer to try and design a cabinet that goes low and performs well at volume.... but skip all the little necessaries like proper bracing, insulation, heavy-gauge wire, a decent xover etc.... and they end up with a cab that would have sounded better if they left well enough alone. Recently, the trend amongst the bigger companies is to use this design philosophy, but employ Eminence or B&C drivers.... mostly for marketing purposes and being able to say "EMINENCE".... as if having a quality driver can compensate for poor design.... which it cant.
Bergantino Audio is probably the most highly lauded bass speaker enclosure on TB... and amongst pretty much anyone who has any basis for comparison. The owner / designer isn't even a bass player. He's an engineer. There's no magic formula as to why his cabinets are so good. All the applicable science in this field is better than 30 years old. He simply follows the engineering science to the absolute letter, sparing no expense, using only the absolute highest quality materials.
Having tried pretty much every enclosure available (with the notable exception of Barefaced, LoPhat and AudioKinesis)... I find the Genz Benz cabs to be the closest thing to the Bergantino's available in the mass market. The Bergs are built a little tougher, and have better tweeters... but the GB cabs come damn close.....And I absolutely love them.
