SWR Baby Blue II needs replacement speaker

[Eric Swaim]

I have an 8" speaker in my SWR Baby Blue II combo that is crapping out. Probably the original speaker. I was hoping some owners of this combo who have replaced speaker in it before could give me some advice on a replacement speaker.

Needs to be 8" and an 8 ohm speaker. The amp is 160 watts at 4 ohms.

Thank You ahead of time

 

[BadExample]

I dunno what's a good fit, but if you replace one with an alternate part, better replace both

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I dunno what's a good fit, but if you replace one with an alternate part, better replace both

Yup! ^ This...
OEM is the best way to go for a replacement. Is that possible? IDK, but something to consider.
You should get the T/S parameters of any speaker that you plan to use, that are not OEM.
Then measure the internal volume of the cab. Note the number of ports if any plus diam & length.
Then run it yourself, or get help running some modeling software to see how well the speakers will work, if at all, in that cab.

 

[iammr2]

See if you can find one of the original Celestions or a speaker shop with a recone kit. They are out there. It may also be the same speaker SWR used in their Henry 8x8 speaker cab.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Needs to be 8" and an 8 ohm speaker. The amp is 160 watts at 4 ohms.

Thank You ahead of time

IIRC, the slightly later BB II I had was 8Ω total for the internal speakers. Are you sure those are 8Ω drivers? Have you measured the good one?

 

[fast slapper]

Others have had good results with the Beta 8 from Eminence as well as a driver from LDS. Another person got good results from a JBL woofer.

To be honest, it sounds like almost any modern well designed driver is going to be an upgrade. Can't find anyone who prefers the original drivers over the replacements they've tried. If that was my combo, I would be tempted to throw in a B&C 8MBX51 or one of the many other high quality European drivers. Or a Beta 8...

 

[Eric Swaim]

IIRC, the slightly later BB II I had was 8Ω total for the internal speakers. Are you sure those are 8Ω drivers? Have you measured the good one?

SWR official archived web page had the Baby Blue II built 1993- at 4 Ohms. The pre 1993 Baby Blue was 8 ohms total and 120 watts. Now the little speaker is 8 ohms and the 8" speakers must be 16 ohms.
8" speakers 16 ohms + 16 ohm =8 ohms then add the little 5" speaker at 8ohms
8 ohms + 8 ohms = 4 ohms

 

[HaphAsSard]

I have an 8" speaker in my SWR Baby Blue II combo that is crapping out. Probably the original speaker.

IIRC, the slightly later BB II I had was 8Ω total for the internal speakers. Are you sure those are 8Ω drivers? Have you measured the good one?

SWR official archived web page had the Baby Blue II built 1993- at 4 Ohms. The pre 1993 Baby Blue was 8 ohms total and 120 watts. Now the little speaker is 8 ohms and the 8" speakers must be 16 ohms.
8" speakers 16 ohms + 16 ohm =8 ohms then add the little 5" speaker at 8ohms
8 ohms + 8 ohms = 4 ohms

The 5" speaker is there in both versions and should only influence total impedance if its response reached very low. I think.

The manual for the -II version is clear in stating that the 8-inchers are 8-ohm, the 5" also is 8-ohm, but the total impedance of the on-board driver complement is 4-ohm regardless of the fiver:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
^ Page 3 (page 5 of pdf).

The archived webpage in turn states that
"When the original Baby Blue was upgraded to the Baby Blue II in 1993, the following changes were made: (...) cabinet impedance was changed to 4 ohms (from 8 ohms), Bagend 8" drivers were replaced by Celestion 8" drivers. (...) In 2001, the Celestion drivers were changed to Eminence drivers that more closely resembled the Bagend 8" drivers in the first Baby Blue."
Vintage SWR Products
So the original was 8-ohm, and the BagEnd foam surround drivers must have been 16-ohm in parallel, or 4- in series, assuming the 5" midhigh was irrelevant to the total nominal impedance as it appears to be in the revised version.

HOWEVER, the plot thickens when said archived webpage describes the original extension, headless version, i.e. the Baby Blue Monitor, which is claimed to have
" Impedance: 8 ohms "
but also
" Two 8" Bagend drivers "
and
" One Bagend Cone Tweeter"
Is the quoted impedance of individual BagEnd woofers an error (and should read 16 or 4), or did the cone tweeter's impedance in fact count in the first version?
^ EDIT - sorry, last part was poppycock: for some reasons all these years I kept reading 8" as 8Ω...

 

[donk]

I put 2 LDS long throw speakers in my BB2 and is sounds great, more bottom and punch. (I also swap out the amp for my Quilter BB800 sometimes and it becomes my loud amp).

 

[Eric Swaim]

I replaced the 5" 4 months ago with an Eminence and it is 8 ohms. Today I am going to pull out the failing 8" speaker and see what ohms it is.

I just need a recomendation on replacement speaker itself. SWR isually makes whatever speakers it power sound good.

 

[chadds]

The LDS Long throw 8”s aren’t available.
Love this amp! Gigged with it yesterday.
There are 8”s out there. Be sure they are spec’d to go low enough. US Speaker Eminence Alpha 8A. All specs on page. Not a recommendation, haven’t tried.
http://www.usspeaker.com/alpha8-1.htm

I had the Bag Ends. Surrounds went. Celestions were sweeter sounding. LDSs made it a very capable rig. I gig Ashborys and the fundamental is serious. I haven’t replaced a speaker in any other cab my whole gigging life. The healthy Celestion went into an SWR LA-8. That became a mini monster.

 

[iammr2]

Having to jog my memory a bit. On the BBII, the majority of the speakers were Celestion BG8-60's. Had to find recone kits to repair them in about 2006. They were wired in parallel to get a 160 watt/4 ohm rating. The original BB had Bag End 8's wired to a 120 watt/8 ohm rating. The difference between an original BB and a BB II was they added a vent to the top of the cabinet, changed the 8" speaker model and changed the wiring to get the 160 watts spec. Towards the end of the BB production, they switched to an Eminence speaker. I have no idea what model the Eminence were. You should be able to get a flashlight and see the label if they are the Celestions. It may have fallen off and be in the bottom of the cab.

 

[ihixulu]

I've had good results contacting Eminence support directly for suggestions for good available replacement drivers for SWR cabs.

 

[FilTurd]

My suggestion is U.S.speaker. Those guys have most things documented OE and for one of my old SUNN cabs they a list of improved Speakers.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Having to jog my memory a bit. On the BBII, the majority of the speakers were Celestion BG8-60's. Had to find recone kits to repair them in about 2006. They were wired in parallel to get a 160 watt/4 ohm rating. The original BB had Bag End 8's wired to a 120 watt/8 ohm rating. The difference between an original BB and a BB II was they added a vent to the top of the cabinet, changed the 8" speaker model and changed the wiring to get the 160 watts spec. Towards the end of the BB production, they switched to an Eminence speaker. I have no idea what model the Eminence were. You should be able to get a flashlight and see the label if they are the Celestions. It may have fallen off and be in the bottom of the cab.

Some amp manufacturers will spec a driver that is different from any of the non-OEM offerings from the speaker supplier. Without T/S info on both the OEM (may be hard to get) and the replacement, you may just have to go on the recommendations of the speaker manuf. for a replacement for that amp. Or someone who has tried this in the same amp and that can give you thumbs up/down on the results.

 

[BassmanPaul]

SWR official archived web page had the Baby Blue II built 1993- at 4 Ohms. The pre 1993 Baby Blue was 8 ohms total and 120 watts. Now the little speaker is 8 ohms and the 8" speakers must be 16 ohms.
8" speakers 16 ohms + 16 ohm =8 ohms then add the little 5" speaker at 8ohms
8 ohms + 8 ohms = 4 ohms

I’m sorry Eric but this makes no sense to me. The smaller driver will be a high range unit isolated by some sort of crossover. The woofers need to be 8Ω to result in a 4Ω total load.

If the total load was to be 8Ω then either two 4Ω drivers in series or two 16Ω drivers in parallel.

 

[fhm555]

Yup! ^ ...You should get the T/S parameters of any speaker that you plan to use, that are not OEM.
Then measure the internal volume of the cab. Note the number of ports if any plus diam & length.
Then run it yourself, or get help running some modeling software to see how well the speakers will work, if at all, in that cab.

Could you not get OEM specs and look for a speaker with the same characteristics.
Or is the above assuming the speakers may not have been matched to the cab originally, or am i simply showing my total ignorance on the subject of speaker and cab matching?

 

[Eric Swaim]

I believe I am just going to get some sprakers with a larger voice coil and two speakers that match up with the power of the amp. I am sure there is a science behind the speaker and cab but more importantly to me is the speaker and the power source or bass head power rating to work well together

 

[BadExample]

If the manual is accurate, there is a crossover as Paul said:
"Passive Crossover Components
Capacitors: polyester
Coils: 1.7 milli-henry iron choke, low DCR, custom made"

So you will want to get the same impedance speakers (the ohms). Probably marked on the back of the speakers.

I think you have line two:
"ELECTRONICS
Maximum Power at 1KHz Under Clipping
120 Watts RMS @ 8 ohms (head only w/ 8 ohm speaker enclosure)
160 Watts RMS @ 4 ohms (internal speaker complement)
180 Watts RMS @ 2.6 ohms
200 Watts RMS @ 2 ohms"

which would be two 8 ohms in parallel. Again, this is if the manual matches what you have. To be sure:

Inspect the wiring to see if it's parallel.

Look at the label for ohm rating.

If no ohm rating, on the good speaker, measure it with an ohm meter (multimeter) and post the results.

 

[vin*tone]

The rubber surround in these speakers are known to deteriorate. I had one crap out so replaced both with the LDS long throws.

I believe I might still have a decent original BB speaker if you want. Unfortunately I am in Australia ... and its an original speaker that's known to crumble (might not be worth it?). But if you want to pay shipping you're welcome to it.

If LDS no longer make that driver ask Don if he knows a decent replacement. Great guy.