DIY cabs

[Matte_black]

I have a cab with the CA154... used it sealed and vented (with a tweeter) and I think it's very very good for the price (€69 from Thomann). Recommended.

[verb]

Thanks guys

[lurksalot]

[i]I have built a couple [/i]of mini tapped horns using Precision devices 12 inch subs (PD12 SB30) they sound great , but I am trying to build smaller , my next build will be to sort a sub for the kick drum , I am hoping to build a box not more than a foot cubed , but the proof of the pudding ........

maybe on my christmas break

[LawrenceH]

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1354578498' post='1887765']
[i]I have built a couple [/i]of mini tapped horns using Precision devices 12 inch subs (PD12 SB30) they sound great , but I am trying to build smaller , my next build will be to sort a sub for the kick drum , I am hoping to build a box not more than a foot cubed , but the proof of the pudding ........

maybe on my christmas break
[/quote]

Interesting, I've not heard a tapped horn. What did you use for design, did you follow plans or design your own? What's the useable bandwidth?

[lurksalot]

They are referenced as MTH-30 , I used plans from [url="http://forum.speakerplans.com/plans_forums_cat2.html"]speakerplans[/url] but I have trawled the site but can't find the design/build thread that I based mine on , I recall the specs worked at between 50- 170 hz at an SPL of 100 , lovely little beasties .
If I can find the drawings I will let you know if you are interested .
There are some great plans on that site

[LawrenceH]

I'd be very interested, I'm not in a position to build anything imminently but the tapped horn intrigues me - if it's anywhere near flat that's a very useful spec for smooth crossing to tops. Got any pics of the ones you've built or from the build process itself?

[lurksalot]

There were loads of build pics (not mine though) on a thread on the website I linked to but I looked again and cant see it, I also have two in cut timber which I never got around to building as the 2 I did build were plenty .
I have just had an idea where the plans might be on an old laptop, I will see if I can get it started . I can take a couple of photos of the ones I built at the weekend .


Ed to add ......I found it [url="http://www.freespeakerplans.com/plans/14-plans/basscab/24-mth-30"] Here [/url]

Edited December 6, 2012 by lurksalot

[LawrenceH]

Cheers, that's very interesting thanks. Did you add any additional bracing? Looks like there's a bit in the second pic down on that page. Also did you do any tests after they were built (other than the 'firing it up and going '&*% that's loud'' test)?
There's not been much discussion of horn designs on here at all, other than a bit about the BFM offerings.

[lurksalot]

I put the single centre braces in as the photo , it was quite easy as although the angles look awkward , they can slide to fit where they need to , I recall there were a couple of dry builds before gluing up to get it just right , and the sequence needs working out so that you can get the fixings in. I can't remember the detail , but it was a bit trial and error.
I didn't test them properly , just took the piss when I turned up at rehearsal with one of them and scared them all silly , they are brilliant for a bit of bottom end solidity , I have before now used one as a bass cab extension and one for the kick , and powered each from a stereo power amp, it worked quite nicely , and they are so handy to have in reserve . If we are piping music / party tunes on a gig or function they sound superb really filling the room properly , probably OTT , but sometimes you just feel the need
I loved the idea of them , so i had a go and was well impressed , The cutting list was economical for 4, so I got 4 cut pretty much on the big machine at B&Q for pennies, but having got 2 running, they are plenty for what I need, I probably will use the timber for a new kick cube I have an idea for .

[The Admiral]

I wondered if anyone had any experience of the Ashdown five fifteen, and specificallly seperating the combo into a head and stand alone cab. I ask, as its a great amp and suits my needs, but my increasingly trashed back (old Rugby injury, which plays up particularly badly in the winter) is making the shifting of 27kg in one awkward shaped, single handled hit a bit of a challenge. I'm keeen to split it into a head and cab - building a 'sleeve' for the former and a new cab for the latter - suited to the current 15 inch driver. In addition, I 'm wondering about building a seperate 2 x 10, which I can use as an alternative, or, if I can work out the wiring/impedance conundrum, could I run it in addition to the 1x15? I've had a look at the Harley Benton 2 x 10, which would almost be cheaper than buildng my own, but, depite some good reviews for it (taking into account that for just over £100 it's not going to be an Ampeg), I would like to dip my toes in the cab construction side, as I'm pretty handy and it would make a nice winter project.

All thoughts gratefully received - including the 'why bother' thought process, when I may just be best keeping the five fifteen 'as is' in my office practice space and buying something S/H on BC which is more portable and purpose built as a lightweight outfit for rehearsals and gigs. That's probably far too sensible though, and why just spend money when you can give yourself more work for the same price!

[thunderider]

i got a 212 that i threw together,as a practice cab, used the dimentions from the ashdown site.im gonna compleately rebuild it,as i got a joinery co as a customer,but 2 things im thinking about,is to split the box with a central baffle,would this make the speakers more punchy?,also any benefit to wiring the speakers seperate,there 2 8 ohms,or the wiring makes no difference?
id fancey doing a cab for my 215s but wouldnt get a 40inch cab in our band battle barge....crysler voyager!!

[Mr. Foxen]

If you mean dividing the cab into two sections, that would mostly add weight and reinforce the cab, better off using lighter reinforcement. No benefit to separate speaker wiring.

[bisonkills]

Perhaps a bit of random question, but would a pair of Celestion Truvox 1225s 12" be suitable for a bass cab? Technically a PA speaker... Any opinions?

Edited May 11, 2013 by bisonkills

[LawrenceH]

I have used Celestions with similar extension and overall capability (older, K12-300B, also a PA driver) for a bass cab in the past tuned somewhere around 50-55 litres IIRC. Still use them sometimes, they sound great, and go nice and loud with an old 300w TE powering them. They wouldn't match something using high-excursion drivers and a bigger power amp for maximum volume, but they've never needed to! Really depends what you want from them, but I personally like the sound of flattish-response PA woofers.

[tm486]

Hi,

This might be a bit of a silly question, but I'm in the process of drawing up plans for a simple 1x10 cab and can't really find any information on the radius of most cabinet corners. I've got a router so I can radius the corners of the cab, but how I choose to design the cab will be affected by the radius it needs. How do you normally join your cabs? Does anybody know what the radius of most cabinet edges/corners is?

Also, do you just use butt joints or would a rabbet joint be better. I'm thinking of using a rabbet joint because it would make assembling the cab a bit easier, but then depending on the thickness of the ply, it would limit the size of the radius I can put on the cab.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

[Phil Starr]

sorry i didn't see this earlier. The best joint for a DIY cab is the reinforced butt joint, where you run a 1" sq batten along all the joints as recommended by Fane, Eminence etc. you can screw through the battens which holds everything together whilst the glue dries.

It doubles the glue area, lends some mechanical strength through the screws and adds a little bracing to the panels. Plain butt joints lack glue area and I find are prone to failure, finger and dovetail joints are more suitable for a production line and need high skill levels, Rabbet joints make clamping easier but add little strength.

This is the main supplier of cabinet corners in the UK [url="http://www.adamhall.com/en/Cabinet_Corners.html"]http://www.adamhall.com/en/Cabinet_Corners.html[/url] click on the pic's for dimensions.

[tm486]

No worries, thanks for the reply. I was going to use a reinforcing batten inside all edges anyway, so I'll just use that instead. The idea of using rabbet joints was for ease of construction, everything would kinda slot together and I'd just glue and clamp it.

Thanks for the link to the corners, now I just need to find time to build it all.

Cheers,

Tom

[VTypeV4]

Just acquired these today..

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

They're in need of some restoration but their construction seems pretty solid. One has a serviceable (I think at least) Celestion Powercell driver with a big magnet and cast frame whereas the other has a knackered K15E 200. A severe voice coil rub and a caved dome probably will see it scrapped but we'll see.

[Phil Starr]

That's a blast from the past, I used these in the 70's for PA and built a few too. They were the bees knees at the time but i wonder how coloured they would sound now. They gave a good bass thump but you lose almost all the top end in the bends due to phase problems. They shouldn't be too critical in terms of replacement speakers, they aren't reflexed/ported so tuning isn't a problem and the horn helps load the speaker and so excursion is controlled. Getting them close to the ground will give you better bass extension, try them on their sides.

how have you got on with them?

[VTypeV4]

Well I've ran them both up today with three different drivers just to see how they perform. I've put decent guage wire in them too as the existing stuff was like old phone wire!

I started with using the EV driver (SRO frame / EVM cone) as an 'intermediate' reference then tried both my JBL 2225 and a nasty cheap Sica / Ashdown to see what would happen. As Phil suggested, they colour the sound massively but not in a horrible way to be fair. Very 'oldskool' if you know what I mean! I was surprised that a change in driver didn't much affect the sound as the other horns i have you can tell the difference when swapping drivers. I should have tried the JBL 2226 too but I couldn't be bothered to pull the enclosure apart to try it although I don't expect it'd have made any much difference. They have a distinct hump at about 80Hz with extention down to about 60Hz although they don't really want to go any lower than that. Maybe if I corner loaded them and stacked at 90 degrees with a v-plate on top they'd do a bit more?

As for their future, I'm not really sure what to do with them. They don't offer enough sub to work effectively as the bottom end of a PA and they don't suit my bass sound either. The Celestion Powercel is in good order although I want to use that for something else. That with it's ali dustcap it sounds sweet with a bright HF extention so stuffing it in a horn seems pointless. The K series on the other hand is totally goosed flapping nastily and an in-curable voice coil rub to boot. Scrap!

An interesting bit of design and nicely constructed boxes, just a bit obsolete in this day.

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/BigJBL2_zps7618db0c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/BigJBL2_zps7618db0c.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Won't be changing these ones tho, love 'em. JBL 2241 loaded. Sweet!

[Phil Starr]

I do like horn designs, the higher efficiencies with everything working less hard promises a much better sound and just appeals as an engineering solution. Ported cabs suffer all sorts of problems with over excursion below Fb and I hate the idea of 4% efficiency. The trouble is the practicality of having the mouth area sufficiently large to get true bass from a moveable cab of course.

In the seventies I experimented with lots of compromise horn designs like this W Bin. You just lose too much in the folds and the 80Hz lump is the best you can get, the short length really limits the efficiency gains too. The folded horn you show is great especially if you can use multiples or get them in the room corners. I experimented by having a forward pointing speaker loaded with a W horn at the back. This restored the directly radiated mids and gave me the nice upper bass hump and i sold a few for disco use as well as using them for PA at a few free festivals nut in the end I'm not sure they weren't just a glorified reflex design. Then Thiele/Small came along and spoiled the fun.

My favourite cab of the time was the horn/reflex hybrid like the old Altec A7
[url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTEC-LANSING-A-7-500-VOICE-OF-THE-THEATRE-SPEAKERS-NICE-PAIR-/141085231451"]http://www.ebay.com/...R-/141085231451[/url]

and the tidier Eminence design
[url="http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo285/audioblis/purple15hornloadedcab.jpg"]http://i384.photobuc...rnloadedcab.jpg[/url]

I'd love to try these for bass sometime where i think the unusual frequency response might sound quite good, now there's something to do with your drivers

Edited October 10, 2013 by Phil Starr

[VTypeV4]

Thanks Phil, those Altec things look awesome! I've seen the 'big daddy' version of these as a guy over on the Carver forum has a pair.

[url="http://thecarversite.com/yetanotherforum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=9073&p=2"]http://thecarversite.com/yetanotherforum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=9073&p=2[/url]

With regards to horns, I too like the increased efficiency which is why I'm also part of Bill Fitzmaurice's site and plan to get some of his OT12s built. These will go with my big folded horns when I get the other pair built. I plan to go big!

My folded pair were originally a quad from a disused club. All four were ran from one JBL MPX1200 amp and it was truly devastating shaking my eyes in their sockets first time I experienced them! The other pair went into the Rigger when we changed the system a while back and I have the others. Mine still have their original JBL 2241 whereas the ones at the Rigger have a 3600 Crown up them and are loaded with a PD.918 one side and a Celestion FTR18 4080HDX the other. I'd put mine in the Rigger if we had space but It'd shake the building down!

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/EVWbin_zpsd56efe78.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/EVWbin_zpsd56efe78.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

A quick pic of the EV driver being loaded yesterday.

[VTypeV4]

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/BeavisW2_zpsa0418bce.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/BeavisW2_zpsa0418bce.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/BeavisW1_zps11f6781e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/BeavisW1_zps11f6781e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Just for giggles..

[TheButler]

Got a friend that is a magician of a woodworking/cabinet maker. He is currently putting together a fEARful 1515 66. I'll be running this with my Mesa 400+, for those gigs that require that kind of speaker real estate. Anybody have any personal experience of these cabs?

[0175westwood29]

hi guys im gonna grab an 810 soon hopefully, but i would also like to make a cab aswell, for experience anyone have any links to where i could find 10" speakers? and can i used any inch think ply?

found this link but are there anywhere cheaper?

http://www.lean-business.co.uk/eshop/pair-pack-x2-eminence-legend-b810-32ohm-10-150watt-speaker-p-1137.html

andy

Edited January 14, 2014 by 0175westwood29