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My 2x10 Shootout

#21
TimmyP said:
The speakers that are not being played through resonate sympathetically with the energy from the one that is being played. If one of the cabinets has a removable grill, pop it off, then play through another cabinet while touching the cone of one of the grill-less speakers. Feel it vibrating? If it's vibrating, it's producing sound. If this sound is at a different frequency or phase than the speaker being played, the sound from the speaker being played will be changed. It always is, and does. Often drastically.
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That does make some sense. I wouldn't think that it would be "drastic", but if you have observed a dramatic example of this phenomenon first hand, then I will defer to your experience. You have certainly raised my curiosity enough to test your theory! :smug:

Now, I just need the wife and kids to find something to do outstide of the house for a couple of hours (when I'm not working!)... :ninja:
 
#22
tombowlus said:
Well, speakers certainly do respond differently when placed close to side walls (or when another cab is slammed up against the side of them), and low end is affected more so when placed close to a rear wall (and of course even more in a corner), but I am inclined to side with Alex and say that any difference would be rather small in this case. At any rate, when I use bass cabs, I am normally in close proximity (and often right up against) guitar cabs and whatnot, so I would think that testing cabs with other cabs next to them is more "real world" like than with just one cab alone in the room.

I will say this, I initially had the cabs set up in a different order, and then rearranged them to go from tightest low end to thickest low end, and I tested them both before and after rearranging them, and to my ears, I did not hear a difference.

Now one point that I was kind of waiting for someone to raise is that I am setting the ACME and Accugroove cabs on their side, and that perhaps they would have performed differently if they were set flat. Well, yes, they probably would sound noticeably different with the long side to the floor (as would the EA cabs). But, I was trying to keep everything fairly equal,
and if I were to bring just one 2x10 to a show, I would set it up vertically. Not only does this get the drivers higher up and closer to ear level, but it also takes up less floor space, I don't have to bend over as far to twiddle knobs (which I actually don't do much anymore), and according to John Dong, a vertical array of drivers will disperse sound in a wider horizontal arc than a horizontal array (which initially seems counter-intuitive, but John's the genius here, not me, and when you talk to him about it, he makes a very convincing, physics-based argument).

If I had laid them flat, though, I would have thought that all the cabs would have enhanced low end, and this probably would have been more beneficial to the EA cabs than the other two (which had all the low end you could want as it was).

With all that being said, I would be interested in hearing you expound on your theory, TimmyP. Which cab do you think would be most affected by having only one cab at a time in the room?

Tom.
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Speakers do indeed respond differently depending upon their placement. Owing to Boundary Cancellation, a speaker that's 1' from a wall will have no output at 285Hz. 2' from a wall - no 140Hz. 3' - no 95Hz. 4' - no 70Hz. ......... (See [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] )

I would expect the effect of the unused cabinets to make as much difference as changing the arrangement of the cabinets, so I'm not surprised that there was no audible difference when you swapped them around.

John Dong is correct. This is what makes line arrays work. However the lower the frequency, the larger the stack has to be for it to work. Boundary Cancellation will likely have a bit of an effect on how it sounds when placed vertically vs. horizontally.
 
#23
babaseen said:
Tom, thanks for the shootout...your descriptions help us get a base line (no pun intended) for how to offer up useful comparisons. Since the EA cabs ranked well...I hope some one nails down a good review or shootout with the NL-210 from EA since this is their latest offering and I'd rather hear some first-hand experience rather than any marketing hype.
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I forgot to mention, you can get an idea of what the NL-210 sounds like over at Todd VanSelus' site, Invalid Link Removed. Great site. I highly recommend you check it out.

Tom.
 
#31
Tom,

I am new to this forum- I appreciated your 2x10 shootout. I am looking forward to seeing what you think about the Dr. Bass 2x10.

I am trying to decide between the Acme B2 and either 2x10 or 2x12 from Dr. Bass. I am interested in finding out if the Dr. Bass cabs produce a clear, full low B with strong fundamental, no flabbiness that everyone raves about in the Acmes.
 
#32
RONP said:
Tom,

I am new to this forum- I appreciated your 2x10 shootout. I am looking forward to seeing what you think about the Dr. Bass 2x10.

I am trying to decide between the Acme B2 and either 2x10 or 2x12 from Dr. Bass. I am interested in finding out if the Dr. Bass cabs produce a clear, full low B with strong fundamental, no flabbiness that everyone raves about in the Acmes.
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I haven't officially A/B/C/etc. the Dr. Bass 2x10 with the rest of my 2x10's, yet, but hopefully I can provide you with some useful information. First off, my cabs from Dr. Bass are custom one-offs, and do not directly reflect on any of Marc's specific models. My cabs are the dimensions of the Rx line, but are made of Birch, and a thinner ply, at that. However, they have some additional bracing inside to give them more stiffness. So, keep in mind that my cabs are not a direct comparison, but they do represent Marc's efforts, adn I believe that you can get a similar driver configuration (same crossover, too, I believe).

Compared to ACME, there are two things you will notice right away. First, the Dr. Bass cab is much more efficient, and thereby louder at the same gain settings. Second, no 2x10 has low end like the Low B-2 (although the Accugrooe Tri 210L is the closest). The ACME is more polite, refined, and full sounding. The Dr. Bass 2x10 is punchier, has more apparent high end, cuts very well, and seems very well balanced, tonally, overall. My Dr. Bass cab has neo drivers, and again has the thinner birch ply (in the Rx form factor), so it is ridiculously light.

If you want volume, punch, cut, and what I would call an "aggressive" tone, the Dr. Bass is the way to go. If you want full, deep, low, more accurate, but polite (and somewhat inefficient), it's the ACME.

Hope this helps, Tom.
 
#33
Thanks for the insight into the Dr. Bass cabinets. It seems that you realy need more than one specific cabinet since no one will provide that "perfect" tone for any style you may be playing. While I see a Dr. Bass in my future, I think I will first track down an Acme to get a taste of that low down B.

Ron
 
#34
Great review, Tom. How long did it take you to get that Dr. Bass cab? And how much does it weigh in at?

Very insightful review. Will be sure to use it next time I roll out lots of cash to spend on a 2x10 cab.
 
#35
illidian said:
Great review, Tom. How long did it take you to get that Dr. Bass cab? And how much does it weigh in at?

Very insightful review. Will be sure to use it next time I roll out lots of cash to spend on a 2x10 cab.
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My Dr. Bass "experience" was a bit unique, as I didn't really "order" my cabs, so I can't speak to the wait time. I am not sure as to the exact weight, but dang it is stupid light!
 

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