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speaker cab sensitivity

jeff ward

jeff ward

Guest
Jun 28, 2014
100
38
41
Texas
Disclosures
Spector basses
#1
So I'm looking for a Speaker cab with a high sensitivity rating.
Can anyone give any suggestions on speaker cabs along with there sensitivity ratings?

Please exclude greenboy cabs or any other custom shop DIY built cabs.

My local dealer brands include
Orange
Hartke
Ampeg
GK
Peavey
Fender
epiphani
 
#3
I would love to go play the cabs with each of my heads.. that would be awesome, but I live in an area where music shops don't realy have a large bass player clientele. Its a rare occasion when I go into one of the shops and see something other than a bass combo amp or bottom rung budget bass cab offering.
The brands I listed are what I have to choose from as far as things I could have ordered through a dealer incase there are any issues with the product when it comes in.
 
#4
The lower it goes, the less sensitive it is. That can also be made up for by more power. But I agree that sens ratings are not always accurate because they're only measured at a particular frequency, usually 1 khz. However, they're not entirely bogus, either, IMHO. The Ampeg cab that's the loudest is obviously the 810e, and I find their sealed cabs generally go louder than their ported cabs, although honestly, the practical difference is not that great when it gets right down to it, and the they do have a sealed cab that goes quite low...the PF115he.
 
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#6
More speakers equals more sensitivity.

Published single number could be a relevant one or not. Like they said, more bottom equals less overall sensitivity. It also eats up power in producing it. Presumably you have some tiddly old tube amp?

What you want is a response chart.
 
#8
jeff ward said:
So I'm looking for a Speaker cab with a high sensitivity rating.
Can anyone give any suggestions on speaker cabs along with there sensitivity ratings?

Please exclude greenboy cabs or any other custom shop DIY built cabs.

My local dealer brands include
Orange / Hartke / Ampeg / GK / Peavey / Fender / epiphani

I would love to go play the cabs with each of my heads.. that would be awesome, but I live in an area where music shops don't realy have a large bass player clientele. Its a rare occasion when I go into one of the shops and see something other than a bass combo amp or bottom rung budget bass cab offering. The brands I listed are what I have to choose from as far as things I could have ordered through a dealer incase there are any issues with the product when it comes in.
Click to expand...

Why :confused: ???

Why are you afraid of the million or so super recommendations of fEARfuls, Fearlesses, & Nearfuls when you're talking about ordering something you can't play beforehand anyway?

Plus, as mentioned, a sensitivity number, by itself, is meaningless. Will a single 110 w/tremendous sensitivity work for you? Likely not. If you're looking for the best & least expensive overall rig for the majority of applications, then you should seriously consider a 2 x 210, a 2 x 115, or a 15/6 (or 15/6/1).
 
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#9
CL400Peavey said:
To a T the sensitivity ratings on all the brands you listed are meaningless. You dont know if the rating is at a useful frequency, or if they are measured the same way to compare.

Go play the cabs. Pick the one that sounds best.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Cab sensitivity is at the bottom of my list...quite obvious as I have a stack of Acme B-2's sitting next to my computer table. I will give a thumbs-up to the Epifani enclosures: I have two 310's and my brother uses two PS410's.

Riis
 
#10
if I where you ... I'd go to the manufacture websites and look them up ... ! it is not the type of spec that I would commit to memory ... it is only one of many specs ... but probably more important to the cab designer when picking out specific drivers .. !? and as other have said ... spec is at only 1 freq ... it is a sign of how efficiently a speaker using the power , but I would make 'the sound' of the cab the most important spec ... !! and if you've done your homework before going to listen , you'd only listen to the few that meet your power/watts , ohms and freq range requirements .... happy hunting .. !!
 
#13
jeff ward said:
Can anyone give any suggestions on...sensitivity ratings?
Click to expand...
Ignore them. There's very little real difference because they all are direct radiating cabs, all using very similar speakers. That applies to greenboy too. His cabs go louder than most, because they use longer excursion speakers than most, so they can take more power than most before farting out. If you want higher efficiency that comes from the cab design, not the speaker, and if you want a high efficiency cab design then you have to go horn-loaded DIY, like the BFM Jacks. I've tried my Jack 12 alongside a Baer ML 112, and the Jack was a lot louder with the same amp settings. That's not talking the Baer down either, it's a great cab, the second best I've ever used. :)
 
#14
To be frank, there's actually not a lot of bass speaker cones on the market. Unless a cab maker has deep enough pockets to get a custom driver built for them....then it's an "off the shelf". There's not a lot of variation and it's amazing how often the same Eminence or Faital drivers ends up in most commercial offerings.
 
#15
GMC said:
To be frank, there's actually not a lot of bass speaker cones on the market. Unless a cab maker has deep enough pockets to get a custom driver built for them....then it's an "off the shelf". There's not a lot of variation and it's amazing how often the same Eminence or Faital drivers ends up in most commercial offerings.
Click to expand...
+1. Even if they are 'custom' they're not going to work any better than off the shelf, no matter what they claim. They may have slightly different specs but the technology used in OEM speakers is no different.
 
#16
There's a few who use custom drivers...Markbass and Ashdown. Although I couldn't say if these are just coloured cones on an OEM chassis and design. But most of them are pretty much the same. Which is kind of useful...Both Eminence and Faital publish some pretty accurate thiel small box parameters for every driver they make.
 
#17
Rick James said:
+1. Even if they are 'custom' they're not going to work any better than off the shelf, no matter what they claim. They may have slightly different specs but the technology used in OEM speakers is no different.
Click to expand...
Rick James said:
Ignore them. There's very little real difference because they all are direct radiating cabs, all using very similar speakers. That applies to greenboy too. His cabs go louder than most, because they use longer excursion speakers than most, so they can take more power than most before farting out. If you want higher efficiency that comes from the cab design, not the speaker, and if you want a high efficiency cab design then you have to go horn-loaded DIY, like the BFM Jacks. I've tried my Jack 12 alongside a Baer ML 112, and the Jack was a lot louder with the same amp settings. That's not talking the Baer down either, it's a great cab, the second best I've ever used. :)
Click to expand...
That's $100 bucks each way. Mr Baer is all about his custom drivers.
 
#18
All I know is.. my fEARless F115 is the loudest 115 I've ever heard. It actually keeps up with my Aguilar GS 412 very nicely.

Too bad you want to exclude greenboy. Small and light, beautiful, and I've never heard a more accurate cab.
 

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#19
Several people have pointed out that sensitivity is hard to make meaningful comparisons from because there are so many variances in how its measured. Too often, its simply what a speaker puts out at one frequency and that is usually in the midrange or high frequencies. Find a speaker that sounds good to you and pair it with an amp that has enough juice to play the speaker. That'll get you closer to where you want to be than something that's just loud
 
#20
Gizmot said:
Several people have pointed out that sensitivity is hard to make meaningful comparisons from because there are so many variances in how its measured. Too often, its simply what a speaker puts out at one frequency and that is usually in the midrange or high frequencies. Find a speaker that sounds good to you and pair it with an amp that has enough juice to play the speaker. That'll get you closer to where you want to be than something that's just loud
Click to expand...
The OP wants to use IIRC a 50w tube head in a metal band.
He likes the way it sounds.
He wants to use minimal speaker to get the job done.
He is afraid of buying from manufacturers he doesn't recognize.
Does that about sum up @jeff ward , for people who didnt read your other thread?
When you start new threads basically about the same thing different people will make the same posts in both. Wasting everyone's time.
 
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