Replacement speakers.

[MattJ66]

Hi 

I need replacement speakers for a Gallien-Krueger 210SBX ii cabinet. 

It’s 400 watt 8ohm. 

I’m not sure what speakers are in there but would appreciate suggestions of what to replace them with. 

Cheere. 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Replace them with drivers that have the same Thiele/Small specs and frequency response as the originals.

http://www.eminence.com/support/understanding-loudspeaker-data/

[Phil Starr]

I was hoping that Bill might have known which speakers are fitted, but in the absence of that you need to find the best match you can. the first thing would be to contact the manufacturers https://www.gallien-krueger.com/ they may provide spares direct.

If not an exact match is difficult, The Thiele Small thing just means it has to match the cab, the frequency response will be unlikely to match so the sound of the cab will change.

The original speakers are 200W drivers with neo magnets, I couldn't find anything like that on the Eminence web site.

Why do you want to change them?

[MattJ66]

Need to change as current drivers not working. I contacted GK, they no longer make that cab and said the closest match is from the CX210 but were helpful in letting me know that I need two 200 watt 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel.  

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

That's not particularly helpful, since neither watts nor impedance define how well a driver will function in a given cab. It's not even a correct answer, as two 4 ohm drivers series wired also gives an 8 ohm load. In any event chances are if this isn't an exact match it's probably close enough: http://store.gallien-krueger.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=082-0460-C

 

[Dan Dare]

Bill, is it best to run drivers in parallel or series, or doesn't it matter? Or is there no hard and fast rule?

[itu]

If you put the elements (each 16 ohm) in parallel, the total impedance is 8 ohms.

If you connect them in series, you get 32 ohms.

[MattJ66]

Thanks to all. I think the cab is already wired in parallel so to just replace drivers 16 ohm would seem to be the way to go. 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

Bill, is it best to run drivers in parallel or series, or doesn't it matter? Or is there no hard and fast rule?

So long as they're working it makes no difference. If series wired and one toasts a coil neither will work, so that would be a problem at a gig. If parallel wired and one toasts a coil the other will keep working, so it might get you through a night, but if that happens the cab tuning will be upset and there will only be one driver doing all the work, so it might die before the end of the set anyway.

[Phil Starr]

3 hours ago, MattJ66 said:

Need to change as current drivers not working. I contacted GK, they no longer make that cab and said the closest match is from the CX210 but were helpful in letting me know that I need two 200 watt 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel.  

OK so what you have is a box. If you put in different drivers it will sound different. 

how much do you want to pay to replace the speakers and what do you want to get out of the swap, just a working cab or do you have something more than this in mind? Is lightweight important to you, high sound levels, punchy sound, or whatever? Remember the more you want the more you will probably have to shell out?

Are you handy and willing to modify the cab or do you just want something to drop in?

Is this something you need up and running quickly for a gig or can you take some time?

Finally a couple of quality 10's are going to set you back £150-200 maybe more, have  look to see what else is on offer at that sort of price before sending good money after bad. If you still want to go ahead I'll start making suggestions and asking for technical information.

 

[casapete]

I don’t remember the SBX range having Neo drivers, think they used standard GK Paragon units?

Also have you considered pricing up reconing your current drivers? Wembley Speakers are experts and could give you a quote.

Edited March 27, 2019 by casapete

[Phil Starr]

7 hours ago, casapete said:

I don’t remember the SBX range having Neo drivers, think they used standard GK Paragon units?

Also have you considered pricing up reconing your current drivers? Wembley Speakers are experts and could give you a quote.

You may be right about the neo speakers, I took that from a manual downloaded from the GK website but couldn't find an exact match for  the SBX ii. However those GK drivers that Bill linked to look like good units at that price. If the OP's cabs are a similar size to the cabs these drivers come out of there is every chance they will work well. It isn't guaranteed without knowing the specs and doing the calculations but drivers tend to cluster around similar engineering solutions to the same problems of amplifying bass so you can often get away with swapping out drivers. Using these would at least mean the cab was all GK even if not original. 

 

the drivers Bill linked us to are described as Paragon 10's http://store.gallien-krueger.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=082-0460-C

[casapete]

Some good advice here ^^^

You may also find it's worth talking to the GK distributors in the UK , who I've found helpful in the past.

https://polar.uk.com/