stevie

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1376250926' post='2171377'] As that view has already been expressed, surely this is a moot point. [size=4]I have the right to reply to any comment, just as you do.[/size] [/quote] You didn't actually reply to the comment though, did you?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1376241252' post='2171206'] [size=4]Given the level of intolerance, surely The Daily Mail would be more appropriate?[/size] [/quote] A remark which itself betrays a distinct lack of tolerance for the rights of others to express a view.

[quote name='Ashdown Engineering' timestamp='1376076703' post='2169560'] Decent wasn't good enough for ABM Neo and therefore we have gone the extra mile in every respect when designing and manufacturing these here in Essex. [/quote] Good for you! Can we expect cast chassis and wadding in the cabinet of these new speakers?

It does look good! Ashdown cabs have never been state of the art but they have always offered really good value for money.

I arranged carriage for an item which was damaged due to really poor packaging. The seller insisted I should claim from the carrier even thought he was obviously at fault. I won my claim through eBay, got my money back and kept the goods.

I'm not sure you'll hear a huge difference, Dood. Seymour Duncan used to make a valve guitar amp called the Convertible which had a damping factor control knob. It worked and you could hear the difference, but it never caught on. For bass, I like an amp to have tight control over the speaker myself. If I need a bit more warmth I can always get it using the tone controls. However, Matrix obviously believe it's a good idea for guitar, and they seem to know what they are doing.

According to the designer, they reduced the damping factor to simulate the looser kind of tone you get from a valve amp. That could work for bass but I think a normal design power amp might be better.

Fascinating. Apart from the Musicman (which sounds different), the others are so close in sound that it would only take a tweak of eq to get one to sound like another. I liked the Fodera followed by the Yammy. The SX sounded a bit thin to me. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Oooh - only just found this. Great stuff. Well done!

Just lining the walls with acoustic foam or BAF wadding. It's easy to do - just take your driver out.

[quote name='TG Flatline' timestamp='1375712181' post='2164582'] That [i]was [/i]my understanding too, until the one I opened up to line with wadding was MDF [/quote] You're joshing me!!! They've certainly always advertised them as being made of ply (and the two ABM cabs I've got are ply). That's very naughty. I expect they assume that nobody will check. The wadding thing - yes, that's a real cheapskate bit of value engineering, isn't it? I had to wad mine too before I put some decent drivers in.

Definitely try the cab out first. I had a Laney 2 x 10 once and it was absolutely dreadful.

As far as I know, Ashdown ABM cabs have always been made from birch ply.

I would take the specifications with a big pinch of salt. 20Hz to 9kHz seems a tad generous, as does 99dB sensitivity.

So what experience do you have of these Ashdowns, TG? I thought they were rather new. Interesting that they are using side handles on the top, which looks weird. Plus point is that they are using proper birch ply.

You shouldn't have to replace the entire panel as a Speakon normally fits straight into the hole left by an XLR socket. You may have to solder a couple of tags though.

It's probably Eminence but you really need four the same in that configuration. Is there anything printed on the magnet that could give you a clue? A recone might be the best solution. You could try calling them in Germany.

It's worse than that: you get phase cancellation even when you're on-axis (from a specific frequency up). The design principle of the multiple-driver bass cab is that if one driver is not loud enough, add more until you're happy. It may have served may people well, but it's a bit basic, to put it mildly.

It might be worth persevering to fix the rubbing. My experience of generic JBL recones is that they don't sound anything like the originals.

Chris bought some pickups from me and the transaction couldn't have been better. Sorry I'm so late with the feedback.

Bought a pickup from Mark, which he despatched very quickly. It was exactly as he had described. You can't ask for much more than that. Trade with confidence!

There's a simple explanation. 51mon is on the right track. When you are close to your speaker you are standing off-axis and you only hear part of your sound: you do not hear the higher frequencies because the dispersion pattern narrows at higher frequencies. Go a few metres from your cab and you hear more HF because you are not so far off-axis. In other words, high frequencies beam and you have to be in the beam to hear them. Importantly, higher frequencies are responsible for the definition of your sound. Once you get further away, what you hear is a combination of direct and indirect sound. The further back you go, the more indirect sound you hear until you arrive at a position where what you are hearing is virtually all indirect sound (bounced off from the walls, ceilings, etc.). Because the off-axis output of a general purpose bass cab rolls off above 1000Hz, its 'power response' or reverberant field response contains very little information above that frequency. Its sound will therefore change in the far field and will become muddy. Yes, that's you (unless you're going through the PA). This is one of the key arguments in favour of using a small diameter midrange driver (or horn loading) to improve the off-axis response. Either that, or go through the PA, which is likely to have been designed with a useful power response.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1371152817' post='2110668'] You're still not understanding what I'm trying to say! I'm not talking about any of those drivers, I've been talking about my search to find a motor that allows me to design a driver based around that magnet and pole pieces that does what I want. This is nothing to do with different brands, companies or factories, it's about specific castings and machined parts which have a certain geometry. [/quote] So you've been looking into XBL2?