Bill Fitzmaurice

Yes, the port output shifts 180 degrees below the port tuning frequency, so the combined result of the port plus cone output falls at twice the rate of the port or cone output alone. That's the downside of a ported enclosure. However, compared to a sealed enclosure it still has higher sensitivity to at least an octave lower than sealed, along with far lower excursion.

This is why you don't mic the port.

That means the tops aren't near their limit. At some point they'd be able to go significantly louder than one sub, unless it was loaded with an eighteen.

The bad news is to keep up with your RCF tops you'd need at the minimum a pair of 15" subs, especially outdoors. The laws of acoustics will not be denied.

You don't want to go to 140Hz, that gets into the directionally locatable frequencies, which limits placement options. 80 to 100Hz is the preferred range.

That's on the FOH crew, when they don't know what a bass is supposed to sound like and therefore neglect to EQ the bass channel appropriately. 🤥

If all you want to hear is boom-boom-boom then it's OK. Otherwise don't.

Subs don't deliver watts, they deliver decibels. There's no direct correlation between the two. There is a direct correlation between cabinet size and driver displacement and how low and loud a sub will go. The larger size of the TS indicates it would probably go lower, the larger voice coil indicates it might go louder, but since there is no measured SPL chart or driver displacement shown there's no way to make an accurate objective comparison. As to one 12" sub being adequate it probably would be if the mains are 8", but that's about it. The mains are the tip of the iceberg you can see above the water. The subs are that part that's underwater. They need to be at least twice the size and cone displacement as the mains.

I'm not one to jump back on board the vinyl train.

I suspect it's the same stuff.

Tolex will rip, and when it does it's nigh impossible to fix. Tuffcab when gouged can be touched up. That's why I went to the US equivalent, DuraTex, 20 odd years ago.

This is a US light switch, in the off position.

The way where you can hear it? That's probably as shown in the picture.

A de Havilland Mosquito is more pertinent to the conversation. It shows what can be accomplished with bent surfaces and bracing without exotic, heavy or expensive materials.

Where tone wood is concerned I've found that the lower the wood density the more absorbent it is of mids and highs, and the lower it is in sustain. Conversely the higher the density the brighter the tone and the better the sustain. I like a bright tone and long sustain, so I made my bass from rosewood, which is so dense it barely floats. That also would make it a back breaker if solid, so I made it of neck through construction with hollowed bouts, similar to Rickenbacker. It might not be everyone's cuppa, but it's served me well going on 25 years.

They do suffer from the same shortcomings. If you must have that driver arrangement AFAIK the only manufacturer that does it the right way is Barefaced. The purpose of any bass cab arrangement is to provide a desired low frequency output with wide midrange dispersion. A pair of quality 2x10 or 2x12 vertically stacked will beat an 8x8 in both those regards.

Since you asked...🤪 The shape makes a huge difference in how light a cab may be made. Bent panels are much stiffer than flat panels, which allows them to be made from thinner materials. Between bent panels and bracing one can make cabs from 3mm and 6mm plywood, with no ill effect. It's very labor intensive, but well worth the effort if you want the lightest possible cab still using inexpensive materials.

Most of that goes into electric motors for cars, and windmills that provide electric power to charge car batteries. The main reason for high neo pricing is most of it comes from China, which wants to corner the market on electric cars, so they raised the price on neo for export. People have made cabinets out of everything imaginable, including concrete. But heavy materials just aren't practical, and they're not necessary. If you built balsa aircraft models as a kid you already know how to make structures that are very light weight yet very strong.

It's been considered, and used, but aircraft, boat and automobile industries use so much of it that there's not much left over for cottage industries. This keeps the price high as well.

Bamboo laminate is a very good material, but is so much in demand in the building trades that it's hard to find and prohibitively expensive.

1. Carbon fiber is very stiff while also being very light, so it is structural. But there's a lot in the GR advertising that doesn't live up to scrutiny. They're light, yes. But as to the rest...🤥 2. Barefaced braced construction is labor intensive, which adds to the cost. So do their premium drivers. There's nothing wrong with plywood. 3. A conventional plywood enclosure uses 18mm plywood with minimal bracing, if any. Whatever the material is better results come from thinner/lighter materials with extensive bracing. It's more expensive, because of the added labor cost, but you gain the benefit of lighter weight every time you pick it up.

Floor pedals are configured to operate with the low voltage output of pickups. The voltage at the effects loop is much higher, at what's called line level, which is what rack mount processors operate at. Using floor pedals at line level can cause distortion.

I can see them being good with guitar, as guitar cabs need not be very large. But bass cabs do need to be large to go low. As reinforcement for double bass they may be OK.

My assumption with a lead for an amp is it would be the only piece using it and dedicated to it. Which begs the question as to how the OP lost his. Maybe the missus is using it on the coffee pot? 🤥