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Double Bass New Acoustic Image Front-Firing Cab

#21
Man, their link changed!!! On acousticimage's home I clicked on "here" for the recent newsletter and it went to a more recent newsletter than it does now!!! Can't find it now. If I recall the news are:

Clarus will have 800 watts (like the focus now) and the focus production ends. The clarus will have improved effects.
Coda and corus combos will come with the new clarus and the head can be removed from the combos.
If I recall the contra combo and the ex cab stay the same.
The new combo and cab, as shown above (thanks ezrs), come with the new clarus head. Their weight was 28 and 23 pounds, combo and extension. Can't recall if the head could be removed from the new combo but I guess it can.

I guess this was it.

David Santos
 
#24
Interesting, semi-related story:

I had a series I AI combo (with the head attached to the cab by a couple of screws) and used it all the time. I brought it to my parent’s house during a vacation from college and left it in our music room. Unfortunately we had a house fire while I was out of town. Thanks to the quick work of the firemen we ended up saving lots of possessions and no one was harmed, however we did end up losing the house.

The combo worked for about a month afterward and consequently died due to chemical corrosion from the smoke. There are lots of nasty concoctions in the kitchen, where the fire was. I ended up buying a series II with the insurance money and continued gigging. In the mean time the amp spent about a year sitting in the storage room of our local music shop - the one that fixed up my old series I after the fire in the first place.

At some point I had the brilliant idea to test out if the speakers were still working. Turns out, the only components damaged were in the brains of the amp and the speakers were working just fine. I had the head removed and use the remaining cab as an extension to my series II. It sounds great and works wonderfully with a big band as a satellite speaker or for louder gigs.

If anyone comes across the same situation, it'd be interesting to hear your story and how it worked out for you. I just thought it was a good idea to share. Hopefully this will inspire some of you to be creative with your old junked parts.


Alex Smith
 
#25
Just a quick note to let people know that Rick Jones has updated his web page to show the new Ten2 combo and Ten2EX speaker cabinets along with the revisions in his product line. The Ten2 products are scheduled for availability in July 2009 although no prices are listed yet. He has also made other changes in his product lineup that I think people will find interesting.

Erik Hansen
 
#26
Thought you might be interested in a real world comparison photo of the Ten2 combo vs. the series III combo. At present the Ten2 has two ten inch woofers and a single tweeter, different from the tweeter in the current combo, which has a midrange driver.

The frequency response characteristics of the woofer in the Ten2 extends higher than the current combo woofer, so it better covers the midrange. The larger tweeter (attached to the speaker grille) extends its response below the current tweeter. These factors make the midrange driver unnecessary.

2combos_gm.jpg


Since this was a pre-production prototype I'll reserve comments until the production model is available to evaluate. But it's another very cool piece of gear from Acoustic Image.
 
#27
I'm totally stoked for the new combos and heads to be released, and I'm trying to figure out what gear I can unload to finance one.

However, I noticed that they had a new Coda+ on top of the new Ten2 extension cab. I'm wondering, "What's the point?" With the front firing speaker of the Ten2, and the fact that Coda+ is now off the floor, how much effect on the overall sound is the down-firing speaker in the Coda+ going to have other than lowering the impedance down to 4 ohms?

-Pat
 
#28
Pat, when I compared a prototype to my own front-firing speaker side by side, one of the differences I noticed right away was that the downfiring woofer puts out an "omni-directional" sound, just like their website says. Doesn't matter if you are on-axis or off-axis to the front of the cab. The effect was very discernible. I think that's a major reason why I said it sounded "really, really impressively full," and "visceral down low" in my initial report.
 
#30
peterpalmieri said:
Do I have this right?

Outside of the combos, they're gonna have a single channel 400 watt head and a dual channel 800 watt head?
Click to expand...

Yes. Essentially both the single channel amp and combo remain the same. All the dual channel units increase in power. The two channel head is available separately as the Clarus+, and that same head slides into the Coda and Corus, Cabrio, and TEN2 combo cabinets.
 
#31
Bob Gollihur said:
Yes. Essentially both the single channel amp and combo remain the same. All the dual channel units increase in power. The two channel head is available separately as the Clarus+, and that same head slides into the Coda and Corus, Cabrio, and TEN2 combo cabinets.
Click to expand...

That sounds really cool and very versatile.....

The Cabrio Docking System is simply the new chassis that houses the head and the corresponding dock mounted in the cabinet?

Bob please correct me or clarify...
 
#32
peterpalmieri said:
That sounds really cool and very versatile.....

The Cabrio Docking System is simply the new chassis that houses the head and the corresponding dock mounted in the cabinet?

Bob please correct me or clarify...
Click to expand...

That's right. The head cabinet is pretty clever-- there's even a recess in the middle of the bottom of the cabinet where rubber feet screw in, so they are out of the way when you slide it into the cabinet dock. If you decide to use the head separately, long term, you can move the feet to the corners.
 
#33
bolo said:
Pat, when I compared a prototype to my own front-firing speaker side by side, one of the differences I noticed right away was that the downfiring woofer puts out an "omni-directional" sound, just like their website says. Doesn't matter if you are on-axis or off-axis to the front of the cab. The effect was very discernible. I think that's a major reason why I said it sounded "really, really impressively full," and "visceral down low" in my initial report.
Click to expand...

Steve,
I totally understand the concept, and I'm a huge fan of my current Contra. BUT, when the down-firing speaker is on top of another speaker does it still load and respond the same way? In my example above, wouldn't the font firing Ten2 cab negate the effects of the down-firing Contra that sits on top of it?

I know when I put my Contra on my 4x10, the Contra "sound" and fullness is gone.
 
#34
Pat Harris said:
Steve,
I totally understand the concept, and I'm a huge fan of my current Contra. BUT, when the down-firing speaker is on top of another speaker does it still load and respond the same way? In my example above, wouldn't the font firing Ten2 cab negate the effects of the down-firing Contra that sits on top of it?

I know when I put my Contra on my 4x10, the Contra "sound" and fullness is gone.
Click to expand...
Pat, gee, don't know. But just to be clear, in the new cab, the downfiring 10" is not on top, if I understood your post. It is still mounted in the very bottom of the cab, and faces down. I am confident they tested the daylights out of the way the driver is loaded and the way it responds. It is still the same Contra design and sound and fullness, just with an added "forwardness" and even more sound coming from the front-firing 10". Maybe I'm not understanding what you meant. If so, sorry.

When I put my old Contra on a hard flat chair, it still had a hard surface close by to "push" against and load the driver, but it did result in a sound that was not as boomy as sitting on (and coupled with) the floor. Physics I guess. Sometimes that was desirable I thought, depending on the room and the other players. Maybe in your example the 4x10 is just overwhelming the Contra in terms of output. Dunno.
 
#36
I talked to Rick one time on the phone and he said it shouldn't make much difference.

That was before they had the coaxial tweeter mounted on the down firing
10.

You could bring a small circular piece of plywood to the gig.
Maybe 1/2 inch or even 1/4 inch.
It might even fit in the bottom of the bag.
 
#37
shwashwa said:
what happens if you paly one of these things on a gig where you're on a rug?
Click to expand...
Opinions vary. Some say it doesn't matter. Like zorf said, some people tote around a small piece of plywood or something to provide a hard consistent surface for the speaker to "push" against. And like he also said, I asked Rick the same thing a long time ago too and his response was the same. He said that the room itself (size, ceiling, angles, curtains, reflective surfaces) is a much more important set of variables. But with the additional front-firing speaker though, I think the rug thing is going to become even less of a variable or concern.
 
#40
shwashwa said:
what happens if you paly one of these things on a gig where you're on a rug?
Click to expand...

I use the AI cab exclusively. I've NEVER had a problem with playing on a rug. The only time I've really had a problem is when I'm playing on concrete or something similar and the walls have bright reflective surfaces. The sound is REALLY bright then. I seem to remember front firing speakers having this same problem is this situation too.

That said, every room is different and any speaker is going to sound different depending on the room size, wall and floor composition, how close you are to a wall etc.

mark
 

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