Speaker replacement.

[Vortex Tess]

Ok,

so now that I have figured out that I do not like metal cone speakers, i would to fix this. I do like the actual Hydrive cab construction. they are nice and compact along with being light. Took me a while to figure that it was the metal cones killing a frequency band that i want to hear.

I was suggested that I may replace them with something such as Eminence LEGEND BP102-4 10" Bass Guitar Speaker 200W
or something to that effect.

I could also just sell them, but i would like to know the concoction of how, none the less.
What type of wattage and ohm pairing is need to have the cab be somewhere between 800watt and 8ohm?

 

[Jeff Scott]

What type of wattage and ohm pairing is need to have the cab be somewhere between 800watt and 8ohm?

You will need four 8Ω drivers, each rated at 200 watts RMS wired in a series/parallel configuration to create an 8Ω 800 watts RMS capable setup in the cabinet of your choosing. The ones you considered above will work for your needs for 800 watts RMS @ 8Ω.

 

[B-string]

I need to leave for load up and gig this PM so a couple questions to help others answer.
1) What are you tone goals?
2) What amp are you driving your cabs with?

Cabs are built to a speaker's internal space and tuning frequency needs so back engineering is a tough thing unless someone out there has just rolled the dice and tried it.

 

[Vortex Tess]

ok, that helps a lot. thank you.

it has the "high frequency -6, on, off," toggle switch in the back, i am not sure how this plays in with the horn. or does it not?

 

[Jeff Scott]

Do you need the horn? Most bass cabinets sound better without one, especially if it is a typical Foster type or piezo horn.

 

[Vortex Tess]

i am running an Orange Terror 1000. my tone goals are that i pull a range of different harmonics out depending of the angle and strike approach plus the fundamental when i downstroke. some amps/speaker combinations do better. the paper eminence sounded good. i saw other threads where people have thrown these in their hydrives and were thrilled.

 

[Vortex Tess]

is that what the "off" switch is i take.?

i am a/b testing the horn thing now.

 

[Jeff Scott]

is that what the "off" switch is i take.?

i am a/b testing the horn thing now.

Right, the switch controls the output setting of the horn relative to the main drivers.

 

[Growly Lytes]

As B-String said you sorta gotta go with cabs that feed the speakers needs......Unless you give it a shot in the dark, its what i did not knowing.The BP-102 is a heavy duty speaker that handles alot of low-end but needs decent sized cab to get the best out of them.
I went ahead & made some typical sized quads & put the BP-102-8ohm in there.
Finally after making longer & bigger ports & stuffing the cabs walls with padding they sound good plus an added piezo at full range & im shocked by how they rock.
Lowend Growl.

 

[xk49w]

Vortex - regarding the BP102 driver (or any Em driver) take a look at the cabinet design sheet on the Eminence web site for the driver. It will contain a number of recommended cabinet designs. You can then compare the recommended designs to your cabinet focusing primarily on internal volume and whether it is ported or not.

For each design take notice if it has a "Displacement Limited Power Rating". It will be less than the thermal rating of the drivers. You could end up with a 4x10 cabinet that could handle only 300W at low freqs before the drivers turn inside out. This is one reason it is difficult for anyone to recommend a driver for an unknown box size; among other things it determines the power rating for the cabinet and the Orange Terror you have is formidable.

Edit: Here's a thread where someone made a 4x10 and a 1x15 with Em drivers. The volume on the 4x10 looks a bit larger than your Hartke cab.

 

[Vortex Tess]

thank you for the input. I am going to just go with new cabs. i want at least 800watt 8 ohm 4x10's. the 8 ohm is because i sometimes need 2 4x10 cabs depending on venue and style being played. i am pondering either Ampeg’s PN-410HLF, GK RHB 4x10 (there is one used locally, but i have no conclusive reviews on that one) or an Orange 4x10. If there are any suggestions, i am open. I do like the light case setup of the ampeg pn-4x10, wich is why i liked the hydrive cabs, because they are light.

 

[B-string]

The G-K RBH410 is an awesome cab, but you will NOT like the weight. That is one heavy cab. I don't know the Orange, the 'Peg might be closer to your tone needs.

 

[Vortex Tess]

the GK sounded great. The thing could be used to anchor a dirigible if needed. I do not have any reviews of its reliability or glitch issues. There is something to be said about having two cabs plus the rest of the gear fitting into a Volkswagen GTI, and running cross country with them...

 

[B-string]

RBH cabs are "top of the line" cabs. Never heard of someone having a problem with one, other than moving them

 

[BassmanPaul]

OP, if you don't like how your cabinet sounds then sell it and find one that you do like. Changing drivers is expensive and will just end up in a crapshoot. You might like the result but more than likely you won't.

 

[Bass1011]

Im new here so I don't know how to start a new thread so I'm just gonna ask here- if I found an amp in the 50-100w range, is it possible to replace the existing speaker with a 200w speaker?

 

[B-string]

Im new here so I don't know how to start a new thread so I'm just gonna ask here- if I found an amp in the 50-100w range, is it possible to replace the existing speaker with a 200w speaker?

Sure you can. May or may not sound any better or louder. Very well could sound worse. The electrical power comes from the amp, the speaker converts that electrical power into mechanical movement (moving air to make sound).

 

[Thor]

VT, for the record it is possible to model the performance and predicted frequency response of any drivers that you like in any existing box you have. You will really need to have a good working knowledge of Thiele/Small parameters aka T/S which are a set of mathamatical criteria that measure driver characteristics.

The Eminence program suggested above will do that for you.
You will require the INSIDE measurements of the box to calculate the volume.

There is also a free shareware program available which is a computer modeling program for cab designers. It is called WinISD. There is a link to it in the Amp forum FAQ's. It will allow you to load in any driver(s) you have the TS specs for into just about any size box.

It is very interesting to use. You can see very dramatic changes in the frequency responses of the system by merely
changing the port length or diameter in a ported cab enclosure.

Having used this, I did learn that very small changes in some of the variables encountered can lead to big changes in frequency response.

So if you want to take the time to play with it and do the homework, you can end up with a very good final product.

The opposite is true as well, random driver selection may turn out ok, but usually you end up with response curves that may not be to your liking, humps in some ranges and dips in others.

As noted, the quick and dirty fix is to sell the cab to someone who likes that tone, and buy what you like instead that achieves your tone goals and meets your sonic taste.