I agree. If you read through their website, they make some claims that sound like well, mumbo jumbo. Also, the OP states that the passive radiator is for frequencies under 100hz. Isn't that what most of us cut out? And where are these ports?
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Double Bass Sonusphere B-18 bass cabinet review
- Thread starter hejbol
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- bass cabinet cabinet review
I agree. If you read through their website, they make some claims that sound like well, mumbo jumbo. Also, the OP states that the passive radiator is for frequencies under 100hz. Isn't that what most of us cut out? And where are these ports?
Earl
Supporting Member
All I know is that my old AI Coda cabinet sits in its case all the time and I'm much happier with my sound. I still dig my Coda amp though!
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From the Sonusphere Facebook page: "Whereas we normally do not speak ill of other manufacturer’s products, this one is so awful that it begs to be addressed."
Well, Sonusphere you may have the greatest speaker on the planet, I don't know because I haven't tried it.
However, I spent over 30 successful years in Sales and Marketing and the quote above is, frankly, disgusting and embarrassing. Honestly, if they have to to resort to crude criticisms of other manufacturers products, I have to think there was something critical missing in their upbringing.
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This chart covers frequencies only up to 500 hertz. What about everything above that? Again, sounds like mumbo jumbo. Let's see the actual performance stats in order to make an informed judgment.
Apparently they just find it easier to take cheap shots at other respected and proven manufacturers.
I'd love to hear a side by side comparison of the Sonusphere to the Upshot. I'd guess that they sound different in some way, but what that way is, I can't predict. They're not really competitors IMO given the price differential.
Well I guess I was correct regarding my earlier post about the verbage on their website. Curious what the motivation would be to attack a reputable, well respected competitor. It's a bad look. Plus it's not as if either of them invented up or down firing cabinets.
While i find in unprofessional to knock on another's product, they do kind of have a point about simply turning a normal cab on its backside. Of course that kind of disqualifies their own design in a way as well, lol. Gonna stick with the traditional cab design for the foreseeable future, and simply tilt it back when i have trouble hearing myself.
I have it on very good scientific authority that they totally mis-read or mis-applied the 'science'. A closer look at the scientific paper they base their 'criticism' on is referring specifically to a speaker which is 7/8 inch diameter and the cylinder is 24 inches in diameter. The paper is meant to describe the diffraction effects that affect tweeters on a baffle. When the speaker is nearly the same diameter as the cylinder, the result is not at all like what is shown in the paper, the frequency response does not vary widely.
So either they just don't understand what they are talking about or they are being intentionally misleading.
Personally, I don't care which it is. Their 'marketing' tactics of attempted character assassination of another vendor effectively removes them from any consideration in my book.
So either they just don't understand what they are talking about or they are being intentionally misleading.
Personally, I don't care which it is. Their 'marketing' tactics of attempted character assassination of another vendor effectively removes them from any consideration in my book.
That's a good point. It is made out of plastic after-all, not carbon fiber. Isn't that the most expensive single speaker cab currently available?
I couldn't tell you, but its certainly up there. I'm pretty sure one could get into a Fearless cab for not too much more. Even better a nice high end combo in that range.
It is carbon fiber
I didn't pay anywhere near $1,000. I was just checking out the product page (B18 Electric & Acoustic Bass – Sonusphere), and the price is $649. Not cheap, but not the most expensive by a long shot.
How do you know that the cab is made of carbon fiber? The website says it's "advanced polymer", while their guitar website says their guitars are made from "carbon graphite". You're right about the price, though, it's currently on sale for $649 while the MSRP is $949.
From their FAQ page - this doesn't make me want to support this business because it's beyond crass, even if it's true, this doesn't make him look like a good guy:
II: Please do not confuse the Acoustic Image Upshot with a Sonusphere !!!
Yes, you do see a driver vertically mounted on both styles of enclosure. But be fully aware that this is where any and all comparisons stop dead in their tracks. There are absolutely no sonic outcome similarities between the two. The Upshot is based on what engineers have repetitively determined is one of the worst common cabinet geometries for flat response (the tube). Tube geometry also results in virtually the same side-of-cabinet upper frequency shadow as a box. This is long-standing published textbook fact, not hype. No one has to blindly believe us… just do some basic research and reach your own conclusion. Conversely a sphere is universally considered vastly superior, as has been analyzed redundantly by sound engineers. Elsewhere on our website we have provided a cabinet geometry final response curve graph, re-printed from renowned engineering literature showing this. It is in part why Meyer Sound developed their relatively curved-face 2-D arrays. Bose implements a complimentary approach for similar reasons. Indeed, globe-shaped bookshelf hi if speakers, which work amazingly well, are another iteration. We cannot emphasize enough that the reason that the Upshot tube-style is not present elsewhere in either hi fi or live performance is because it is simply not capable of producing sophisticated, high-quality sound. Curiously, if AI actually believes that their standard down-firing woofer / front ‘point source’ upper frequency approach is so ideal, why proceed to offer an enclosure style that is in such opposition? Whereas AI products are otherwise relatively well thought out relative to the sonic outcome they provide, it is Sonusphere’s educated position that AI made a quality control design mistake with the Upshot. Indeed, to achieve the same dispersion of sound with the same limited projection of frequencies as the Upshot, players would be better off setting a similar-sized speaker ‘box’ on it’s back. At least the player would then retain the option of putting it back on its standard bottom for other purposes.
Whoa. Just let customer service and your products speak for themselves. It seems to work well for Rick. This is very weird.
