Speaker gurus- equivalent replacement driver in cab?

[runmikeyrun]

ive got an old GK 115T cabinet that had a EV 15b speaker in it. Well I killed it. I’m looking to replace it with an eminence 15 but I’m not sure the best way to match them up for a couple reasons:

1. I am clueless about what most thiele-small values are except for xmax.

2. I’m not sure how much effort GK spent designing the 115T cab to work with the EV driver, so I’m not sure if trying to match the specs on the EV driver to a new one is all that important.

3. This cabinet is used at practice only, so I’m not really too concerned about a perfect speaker/cabinet match... but I want to avoid picking a speaker that is going to create a weird resonant frequency or have a drastic boost/cut in part of the frequency range.

Amp used is a bass terror 1000, so an 8ohm 400-500w speaker is what I’m looking at. Eminence has a few choices with those values.

I have the T-S parameters at home for the drivers in question, and I can take some measurements of the cab and port area later tonight and post, but I wanted to see if there was any reason for me to go that far if I’m going to be splitting hairs and pretty much any 15” driver will be close enough to cut it at practice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[GreyBeard]

Contact Eminence directly and they should be able to set you straight.

 

[BassmanPaul]

I question an EV driver being in a GK cabinet as standard. I’m pretty sure GK would install one of their own custom drivers. Your EV can be re-coned fairly readily if required.

I’d contact GK customer support for the proper driver for your cab.

I’ll also add that your amp is way too much for a single 15. I suggest that a better route to follow is to increase your cabinet count. More drivers trumps more power every time!

 

[runmikeyrun]

I will get a hold of eminence tomorrow, thanks for the suggestion on that.

I am looking to get a different speaker because this one is only 200w. You’re right, my amp is too powerful. We didn’t know what driver was inside or the wattage rating since there was no markings on the cabinet. The cab is just for practice so I’m not looking to get more drivers, just a driver that can handle more power.

Here’s the cab/driver info for anyone interested.

Cabinet:
23x21x13” (inside diameter)
Port size:
9.5x2.25” x2
The ports are actually just rectangular cutouts with a 2.25” high runner dividing them.


EVM 15b:
Fs: 43 hz
Qes: 0.304
Qms: 12.89
QTs: 0.297
Vas: 7.95 cubic ft
Xmax: 3.3mm


Eminence Kappa 15A:
Fs: 33 Hz
Qes: 0.33
Qms:8.90
Qts: 0.32
Vas: 11.35 ft.³
Xmax: 4.0mm
450w RMS
8 ohms
3” voice coil
Sensitivity: 100.5 db


Eminence Delta 15LFA:
Fs: 39hz
Qes: 0.52
Qms: 6.30
Qts: 0.48
Vas: 8.51 Square ft
Xmax: 4.8mm
500w RMS
8 ohms
2.5” voice coil
Sensitivity: 96db

 

[DukeLeJeune]

Speaker gurus...

I was up on a mountaintop meditating...

Cabinet:
23x21x13” (inside diameter)
Port size:
9.5x2.25” x2
The ports are actually just rectangular cutouts with a 2.25” high runner dividing them.

Thanks for providing the dimensions.

Imo those slot-in-the-cabinet-wall ports tune the cabinet too high (ballpark 75 Hz) for electric bass. Even one of them tunes it pretty high (upper 50's). If you tune to low-E instead of low-B, a single one of those slots would probably work. But if you tune to low-B, imo it makes sense to seal both slots permanently and install two 4" diameter round ports, each 3" long. This would tune the cab to about 50 Hz, which is usually pretty good for low-B tunings.

Eminence Kappa 15A...

Eminence Delta 15LFA...

The Kappa 15A will have a fairly growly top end, and the Delta 15LFA will have better fartout resistance but less top end.

For better fartout resistance than either one, along with a little bit more top end than the Delta 15LFA, you might consider the Kappalite 3015 (non-LF).

Thanks in advance.

You're welcome.

Back to my meditation. Now where was I? Oh yes.

Ohmmm.....

 

[moogieotter]

Don't overthink. Kappa 3015 (non LF) and keep the reciept, but I doubt you will need it.

Those Kappas hit hard and are bulletproof.

 

[runmikeyrun]

Thanks for the input. I received a Delta LF4 on Thursday and took it to practice tonight. It has more Xmax than the Delta LFA, and I decided to go with a 4 ohm speaker since I’m using my practice amp with it (Acoustic 600w class D) and 300w isn’t enough for our practices. I’m having to push the amp hard but the speaker did just fine. It doesn’t have a lot of top end but I was able to use the eq to balance that out. Not something I would record or play out with, but definitely cuts it for practice.

Thanks for the suggestions!