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swapping speakers over noob question

B

Blacksack

Dec 10, 2010
189
2
#1
ok just a quick noobish question about speakers

i have a hartke 300w transporter cab (4x10) and my speakers have gone mouldy and nasty so i figured it would be a good excuse for an upgrade
anyway i have a beat up ashdown cab with a broken handle (also 4x10) but rated at 450w that i wanna steal the speakers out of

now my question is....
can i just swap the speakers over or do i have to upgrade all the wiring too?
both cabs are 8ohm btw

cheers
 
#2
The speakers and the box are built to work together. Just moving speakers from one box to the other and ending up with something that sounds decent can be a crapshoot at best. If the ashdown speakers are good, patch up the ashdown box and use it. ie: rob a handle off the hartke or whatever.
 
#3
i dont think thats gonna do it the ashdown cab has a split in it from the top corner all the way to the handle and the handle has kinda broken in on itself and taken a big chunc of the cab in with it too
it basicly needs a new cab as the reason i got it for next to nothing was because it had been dropped on its corner durin a load in (hence the strange damage pattern)

i'm not too bothered about sound quality as the mouldy speakers in the cab atm dont exactly sound groundbreaking
if i can swap the speakers over without having to rip out all the wiring thats gonna save me a big job atm can it be done?
 
#5
okcrum said:
Heck, you have the speakers and cab. Try it out - it'll take less time than the hand-wringing this thread will induce. :D

To answer your question, the wiring should be fine. Even better if the speakers use push-on connections.
Click to expand...

thanks for the reply dude
push on connection would be awesome sadly there soldered on but i'm pretty slick with the old soldering iron so i'll give it a bash tomorrow i shall let you know how it turns out :D
 
#7
unfortunatly i dont have a great deal of choice i'm not a very rich bass player most of my gear is 2nd hand or borderline broken so i do a lot of recycling

one day though you mark my words i'll be able to afford a new cab :bassist:
 
#8
Blacksack said:
thanks for the reply dude
push on connection would be awesome sadly there soldered on but i'm pretty slick with the old soldering iron so i'll give it a bash tomorrow i shall let you know how it turns out :D
Click to expand...

GL, and as usual make sure the speakers are all phased correctly when you do the swap, so you can do a fair evaluation. That is, the dotted or + marked terminal on the new speakers are all connected the same as the old ones. Sounds like you might already be aware of that.

Worst case, you swap the funked up drivers back in and have a stack of spares.
 
#9
okcrum said:
GL, and as usual make sure the speakers are all phased correctly when you do the swap, so you can do a fair evaluation. That is, the dotted or + marked terminal on the new speakers are all connected the same as the old ones. Sounds like you might already be aware of that.

Worst case, you swap the funked up drivers back in and have a stack of spares.
Click to expand...

actually i wasnt aware of that but thanks for the heads up my fire insurance thanks you for it
my plan was just to mimic the wiring from one cab to the other
 
#10
Blacksack said:
actually i wasnt aware of that but thanks for the heads up my fire insurance thanks you for it
my plan was just to mimic the wiring from one cab to the other
Click to expand...

There's a good way to check for correct polarity when you've got it wired. Maybe try this before snugging all the drivers into the box.

Plug a 1/4" speaker cable into the cab, and leave the other end disconnected. Grab a 9V battery and put one terminal on the top of the unplugged connector, then the other terminal on the sleeve of the connector.

The speakers will move out or in, and you just want to check that they all move the same direction. If one of them moves opposite the others, simply switch the wires going to that driver, check again, and you're set.

Hope this helps you out. Let us know how the swap goes.
 
#11
I am not an engineer so I should not be the final answer but for the half hour 45 minutes it would take why not just swap them and see what you get I think it should be fine I have had success doing these types of swap with my stuff over the years,I have put Carvin speakers in my peavey cab Trace Elliot speakers in my EV cab and just put a misc 15 in a Yamaha and I maybe have been just plain dumb lucky but this is done a lot.If you are not lucky maybe your local music store would give you a nice trade 2 for 1 speaks loudly to.I see some of these responder look more knowledgable about the details where Im just guessing but hey what have you really got to lose?Good luck
 
#12
BassIan said:
There's a good way to check for correct polarity when you've got it wired. Maybe try this before snugging all the drivers into the box.

Plug a 1/4" speaker cable into the cab, and leave the other end disconnected. Grab a 9V battery and put one terminal on the top of the unplugged connector, then the other terminal on the sleeve of the connector.

The speakers will move out or in, and you just want to check that they all move the same direction. If one of them moves opposite the others, simply switch the wires going to that driver, check again, and you're set.

Hope this helps you out. Let us know how the swap goes.
Click to expand...

you absolute legend this info will be golden tomorrow thankyou very very much indeed :bassist:

RonChase said:
I am not an engineer so I should not be the final answer but for the half hour 45 minutes it would take why not just swap them and see what you get I think it should be fine I have had success doing these types of swap with my stuff over the years,I have put Carvin speakers in my peavey cab Trace Elliot speakers in my EV cab and just put a misc 15 in a Yamaha and I maybe have been just plain dumb lucky but this is done a lot.If you are not lucky maybe your local music store would give you a nice trade 2 for 1 speaks loudly to.I see some of these responder look more knowledgable about the details where Im just guessing but hey what have you really got to lose?Good luck
Click to expand...

i agree i'm pretty sure mr steve harris uses EV's in his marshall cabs and tbh i'd love to have his sound infact i'd probably kill for it.... you know so long as i dont get caught etc
 

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