Mixing speakers : SAME size but different brands in the SAME cab

[two fingers]

nope

yep

with guitar speakers you can mix and match however you want because pretty much all the action happens well above the resonant frequency of the cab, it doesn't really matter.

with bass speakers you have to have the exact right air pressure and excursion and frequency response and everything else with the cabinet or the speakers will sound bad or even blow up. cabinet tuning for low end is a very specific science.

with guitar the cab is just there to keep the speakers off the floor, with bass the speakers are just there to move the air inside the cab properly

This is what I've always heard too. The way it was told to me....

"With guitar it's all about the speaker. You can hang a great speaker using wires in a milk crate and it will sound fine. With bass it's all about the cab. You give me 10 of the most terrible 6X9 oval car stereo speakers and a guy that knows physics and I'll make you a cab that sounds pretty freaking good. But give me the best bass speaker ever and the wrong cab and you'll destroy the speaker trying to make it sound great."

 

[pie_man_25]

This is what I've always heard too. The way it was told to me....

"With guitar it's all about the speaker. You can hang a great speaker using wires in a milk crate and it will sound fine. With bass it's all about the cab. You give me 10 of the most terrible 6X9 oval car stereo speakers and a guy that knows physics and I'll make you a cab that sounds pretty freaking good. But give me the best bass speaker ever and the wrong cab and you'll destroy the speaker trying to make it sound great."

Those 6x9 car stereo speakers are generally made, afaik, for sealed or maybe infinite baffle, environments. I'd imagine ten of them in maybe 0.5 cubic feet apiece would at least get loud. Granted, getting the appropriate testing equipment and doing the math from there with what TS info you can test for would probably get better sound and power handling, but I figure that'd be a 6/10 solution.

Not sure what you'd do about those tweeters, They SAY that the crossover is built-in, but I got a pair of pioneer ones at a pawn shop once, I saw some of those big ceramic resistors wired in series with the tweeter, no cap to be found unless that resistor was actually a cap.

 

[bbh]

I would expect a volume and frequency difference between the brands in mixing it up with the possibility of blowing the lower spec’d spkrs. Hope I said that correctly. At least I know the point I’m trying to make. Feel free to say it better than I did.
Bottom line is, if it sounds good and you’re not straining the drivers, it’s a winner.

 

[StereoPlayer]

This is what I've always heard too. The way it was told to me....

"With guitar it's all about the speaker. You can hang a great speaker using wires in a milk crate and it will sound fine. With bass it's all about the cab. You give me 10 of the most terrible 6X9 oval car stereo speakers and a guy that knows physics and I'll make you a cab that sounds pretty freaking good. But give me the best bass speaker ever and the wrong cab and you'll destroy the speaker trying to make it sound great."

Then there’s John Entwistle...
I know olden days.
John Entwistle Gear: 1960-1966 | John Entwistle Bass Gear | Whotabs

Early amplification

• 
  Vortexion 50-watt amplifier without tone control with a single 18″ Goodman speaker suspended on a six-inch nail inside an open-backed cabinet, covered with a red, green, turquoise and yellow curtain fabric.
  
  “I had to remove it after a gig, otherwise the band refused to carry the cabinet because of its weight.“
  

 

[arbiterusa]

Everytime I see consensus telling someone not to break the established rules, it makes me think there might be a lot of room for innovation.

Do you really think nobody has ever tried this before? There's a reason people on this thread are saying it's a bad idea and it has nothing to do with "established rules".

It's called science, man. Try it sometime.

 

[pappabass]

Same diameter, same ohms, same watts, same specifications & htz ? Rock it !!!

 

[agedhorse]

Same diameter, same ohms, same watts, same specifications & htz ? Rock it !!!

define “same specifications”

 

[Rabidhamster]

At OP there are two trains of thought for this topic on the board:
1. The “well designed reliable out of the box bass amplification“ crowd that thinks about an ideal quality tone for mainstream styles of music. With this train of thought its just a bad idea. The money you’d be spending on drivers and the serious tone of your post mean this is the category to listen to here.

2. The “slap it together and trash it” More ‘punk’ train of thought. That is: does it make sound?/ Will it look cool if it blows up? / Do we have any other choice?
And from that train of thought it could be a fun project. For the right type of music. You can play a hardcore punk show or noise rock” or whatever and have your bass amp distorting, sounding skronky and blowing out its own speakers, it’s ok. It’s still entertaining. But like a breakaway chair or tear away jumpsuit or candy glass bottle it’s very likely only suitable for very specific circumstances. The drivers you mentioned lead me to believe you do not fall into this category. It’s ok almost nobody really does.


TLDR don’t do it

define “same specifications”

 

[Matthijs]

The only use I can think of for using different 10” speakers In one cab is for having the distortion of a specific cone breakup from one or two speakers on top.

 

[DigitalMan]

I’d like to innovate by building a rocket that can get to Mars faster than the current state of the art. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about building rockets, and therefore my ability to innovate is somewhat restricted.

 

[agedhorse]

The only use I can think of for using different 10” speakers In one cab is for having the distortion of a specific cone breakup from one or two speakers on top.

Under this condition, thorough design analysis is helpful to insure that there’s no weak links that can cause unexpected damage.

For example, it may be necessary to high pass the drivers used for the cone breakup tone and sweater the power handling of this section by 50% or more.

the more off the beaten path a speaker design is, the better you need to understand the conditions that the drivers are exposed to.

 

[pappabass]

define “same specifications”

Sensitivity, impedance, frequency response, nominal power, peak power, dispersion

 

[agedhorse]

Sensitivity, impedance, frequency response, nominal power, peak power, dispersion

You missed the MOST important set of specifications for speakers working together within a cabinet.

The TS parameters, which define the electro-mechanical and electro-acoustic properties of the speakers.

Since speakers are based on spring-mass behavior, when these parameters are significantly different, the various spring-mass systems can work against each other and can become destructive at lower power levels than drivers with near identical TS parameters.

 

[Thumpin6string]

I guess I must be lucky. I have a Epifani UL410 that I got cheap because there were 2 bad drivers. I had a pair of Deltalites with almost identical TS perimeters as the B&C neos that were in the cab. They are also all rated at the same wattage. I've been rocking it for about 5 years with no issues and it sounds great.

 

[agedhorse]

I guess I must be lucky. I have a Epifani UL410 that I got cheap because there were 2 bad drivers. I had a pair of Deltalites with almost identical TS perimeters as the B&C neos that were in the cab. They are also all rated at the same wattage. I've been rocking it for about 5 years with no issues and it sounds great.

If the TS parameters are almost identical, than while you may have been lucky, it isn't luck that it worked ok.

 

[Thumpin6string]

If the TS parameters are almost identical, than while you may have been lucky, it isn't luck that it worked ok.

After reading all the posts on here about speakers, that was the first thing I looked at. So I guess I wasn't just luck, just well informed.

 

[vvvmmm]

Guitar world and bass world are two completely different animals.

Yep, and for those of us who play bass, (to state the obvious as you did), not totally dissimilar. I'll also note, that while I understand they are separated within, there's a practice of placing brighter, sometimes even guitar drivers, in the top row of an 8x10".

 

[vvvmmm]

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Lemme point out that some guitar cabs are used, even designed this way. Matchless does it with a 4x12" cab, and Bogner with various 2x12". I think Dr. Z does it, also.

nope

Really? Do you pay attention to what you comment on? Go to the cited manufacturer websites to see that you are incorrect. Bogner even reco's particular different speakers to combine.

 

[agedhorse]

Yep, and for those of us who play bass, (to state the obvious as you did), not totally dissimilar. I'll also note, that while I understand they are separated within, there's a practice of placing brighter, sometimes even guitar drivers, in the top row of in 8x10".

Provided the drivers are in fact in their own air space, that's an option, but it should also be cautioned that unless high passed, or adjusted impedance-wise to limit the power to those two drivers relative to the other drivers in the cabinet, it's quite easy to damage guitar type drivers in bass guitar applications.

 

[vvvmmm]

Absolutely! I sometimes use small tube guitar combos (the Fender Pro, Jr. is great for this) for bass recording purposes. I also have an Ampeg VT60 that I use, but neither to the point of grind. Finally, in the past, I used a Mesa MarkIIb fairly often (until I sold it as impractical for guitar - it was louder than Dawg).

Why? Because tubes.

But yeah, if you start hearing the antithesis of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" turn it down, immediately.