It’s my understanding that Mike has outsourced building of the cabs to another vendor.
From June 2021:
“Ok--I'm looking to retire. And I suck as a businessman ( and HATE being one). So the Big E guys (Steve and Tom and cousin Tim--who's a REAL woodworker) will be taking things over. I'll still be involved in design and prototyping (which is what I love to do) and helping rebuild the website with a bunch of cool technical pages expalaining a bunch of stuff). There will be no orders taken--we will post what's in stock when it's boxed and ready to go. We will be limiting the catalog to speakers based on the Ciare 8's (MAS18.5, MAS 28.5 and Bodai 28.5) as well as the Bodai 12. The Bodai's will both have audiophile quality midrange attenuators. Since the Bodai's are crossed over much lower, the entire midrage will be adjustable. I will be doing custom shop cabs (when I feel like it). My favorite cabs are based on the Ciare 5's, but they cost as much as the 8's and go half the volume. So--they aren't viable in our regular catalog. The 45 tower is my favorite cab I've ever made. I'm selling these three cabs in the pic at a very discounted price. The only reason I'm selling that 45 tower is that the super-expensive new Ciare tweeter is way overkill for that cab. It's the best tweeter in pro-sound, but it's so efficient that I'm padding it wayyy down. I just built my own pair of 45 towers that are 3" shorter and a couple of pounds lighter with the little Ciare tweeter. The big one sounds astounding with recorded music, but the smaller ones sound fine for my needs. The tower has a the same high quality midrange attenuator.
It is 8 ohms.
The other two are 45's using the same 5's in a more conventional cab. They kill my previous 45's. All three are about the same volume as the best Super 12's, but go lower and have WAY more impact, control and authority. Ask Randy (Radbass). He has a 45 Tower and says it kills his Bodai 28.(I think that he's exaggerating )These are 4 ohms each.
All of these weigh around 40#. ( all that power and control demand bigass ceramic magnets.
In order to make money on these, I'd have to charge $1100 for the regular 45's and $1200 for the Tower. Which I think prices them out of the market. I'd be happy to make them on a custom basis in the future.
I'm selling these for $600 for the regular ones and $700 for the tower”
I was under the impression, initially, that there would be a "standard" line of cabs that the Big E guys would make and some specialty cabs that Mike would make, but I am not sure what the case is now. Stuff seems to have been in flux. I would call Mike and/or Big E directly and talk to them.
MarkA, Sounds like you know these speakers as I believe I do also. We must agree that taste is relative, so my opinion is just that. I agree with much of what you say, but…the MAS18 doesn’t even come close to the volume of a Crazy 88. As far as going deeper, the MAS will, but I adjust the HPF up on both so it really doesn’t matter to me.
I play 1/2 upright, 1/2 electric and much prefer the C88, once again, personal taste. When playing a concert, I use either two Bergantino 112’s (ceramic), or a Aguilar 115 (ceramic), topped off with a MAS 46 which sounds glorious, but that stack is only used when I don’t have to carry it!
ps: my cabs are all passive.
No arguments from me on personal taste.
Re. the relative loudness of the cabs, as I said, it's been several years since I got to play through a Crazy 8 and 88. I should be clear, too, that I did not compare them directly with any version of the MAS 18. I did get to play them side-by-side with some of the early MAS cabs, though, including a couple of 25s. At the time, using the "this is about as loud as I feel comfortable pushing this little cab" yardstick (i.e. hearing the onset of compressed lows, dynamics not feeling as easy), I felt a Crazy 8 and a MAS 25 were in the same ballpark. Subsequent experience (and Mike's own posts) led me to the following approximate math:
- MAS 16 = MAS 25
- MAS 18 = MAS 26 (+ a smidge, in terms of fullness)
That's for output potential, not sensitivity. Going by the specs on the Faital 8PR200, a Crazy 8 should have a sensitivity of 95 dB @ 1W/1m -- an 88, then, should be about 98 dB/W/m. That's impressive for a tiny cab (though I don't know how the sensitivity figure was derived). I don't know what the MAS 18 is, but I'm sure the Crazy 88 is more sensitive (not to mention 4 Ohms vs. 8), particularly at lower volumes (since the MAS cabs don't hit their stride, there, until the back wave makes a significant contribution).
How you HPF and EQ the cabs could also make a difference in how loud they can go, individually and relative to each other -- the MAS 8" cabs I've played seemed to benefit from a steep HPF set low (though of course one can set it to taste). If you tried to get the same, deep lows out of the 88 that you can a MAS 18, I suspect that the 88 would choke out earlier, but, high-passed as you have them, it might well be that the 88 pulls ahead in terms of max volume. I don't know.
I can say that, when I tried a MAS 18 next to my Hathor 1203 (which will beat my CMD 121P combo for max volume -- at least if real low end is involved), I didn't feel that it was all that far off in terms of max "comfortable" output (Hathor did edge it, though). Two of them (or a MAS 28) felt bigger and were definitely capable of going louder -- could hang with (and maybe edge) my MAS 46, actually (though I think this could change with how the cabs were high-passed, too).
In any case, I don't have the cabs (MAS 18, Crazy 88) in my possession, as you do, but I'd love to play them side by side sometime. Maybe I'd revise my impressions (and maybe I was too squeamish about pushing them the first time), but that's how I recall things.
I could, as always, be wrong.
Cheers!
-Mark
) so I ordered the newest version from Mike.
