Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Speaker cab desighns
- Thread starter Honkey tonk
- Start date
Alot of improvements have been made to loudspeaker design as far as driver power handling/ frequency response and overall weight.
Then again in general the efficiency is still rather low for direct radiator we are use to in the bass world.
If your looking for a high efficiency design, all the usual candidates and methods are well documented. To have the best out of the boundaries still involved with direct Radiators
You try and choose a high sensitivity driver and hope it has the bandwidth you desire. Always trade-offs. High efficiency drivers need very little power but can be limited in bandwidth. Likewise high power drivers can have the bandwidth we want but require more power.
Such as a 15" that is 99dB which is very efficient but limited to maybe 50hz but needing less power to reach a certain SPL
Compared to a 15" sub that can hit 30hz but might only be 89dB. And requires alot more power to reach a certain SPL
Anyways main point is if your looking for high sensitivity or efficiency. Your simply look towards higher efficiency drivers and not always obsess over high power.
Which is most people's assumption is you just need alot of power. It's more about driver sensitivity and increasing the number of drivers.
Otherwise old theatres in the early days were working with 5 to 20 watt tube amplifiers. Using very large horns to get levels up for a whole audience.
With today's common Direct Radiators. They are directly coupled to air. So there is always that resistance to overcome. Including tempature and humidity.
More efficient system is Horn Loading
The speaker is coupled to a horn not directly to air. This helps overcome that resistance of air. Making them more efficient.
Then of course, opens up the huge can of worms with the tradeoffs in horn loading.
Then again in general the efficiency is still rather low for direct radiator we are use to in the bass world.
If your looking for a high efficiency design, all the usual candidates and methods are well documented. To have the best out of the boundaries still involved with direct Radiators
You try and choose a high sensitivity driver and hope it has the bandwidth you desire. Always trade-offs. High efficiency drivers need very little power but can be limited in bandwidth. Likewise high power drivers can have the bandwidth we want but require more power.
Such as a 15" that is 99dB which is very efficient but limited to maybe 50hz but needing less power to reach a certain SPL
Compared to a 15" sub that can hit 30hz but might only be 89dB. And requires alot more power to reach a certain SPL
Anyways main point is if your looking for high sensitivity or efficiency. Your simply look towards higher efficiency drivers and not always obsess over high power.
Which is most people's assumption is you just need alot of power. It's more about driver sensitivity and increasing the number of drivers.
Otherwise old theatres in the early days were working with 5 to 20 watt tube amplifiers. Using very large horns to get levels up for a whole audience.
With today's common Direct Radiators. They are directly coupled to air. So there is always that resistance to overcome. Including tempature and humidity.
More efficient system is Horn Loading
The speaker is coupled to a horn not directly to air. This helps overcome that resistance of air. Making them more efficient.
Then of course, opens up the huge can of worms with the tradeoffs in horn loading.
Last edited:
