Trace Elliot Commando 12 - a short story..

[Merton]

41 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Were these made from MDF? I remember talking to an ex Trace chap that was going to make me an extension cab for my BLX130. He was insistent that MDF was the only material for a speaker cabinet. 

Mine certainly were MDF

[Lfalex v1.1]

I think mine were cast from lead. 

[Chienmortbb]

15 hours ago, Merton said:

Mine certainly were MDF

I believed him at the time, and most HIFI speakers are still made from MDF. However, working with @Phil Starr and @stevie , and with the onset of old age, I realise that careful design can make thinner, lighter materials very useable for musicians.

[Merton]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

I believed him at the time, and most HIFI speakers are still made from MDF. However, working with @Phil Starr and @stevie , and with the onset of old age, I realise that careful design can make thinner, lighter materials very useable for musicians.

Definitely. MDF is the cheap option for bass cabs!

[VTypeV4]

I'm reasonably sure all of mine are MDF, too. I've never owned anything from the old TE company that wasn't a heavyweight - could they be all made from some sort of iron / concrete blend!? 🤣

 

The little Commando must weigh at least 20Kg (probably more!) which again, puts it on the heavier side things. If we were to scale it on a ratio for outright volume to weight, the poor thing would score really quite badly - good job it sounds sweet! 🥰

[verb]

On 08/08/2023 at 08:15, Merton said:

No luck finding those jack socket nuts, sorry @VTypeV4 

 

I think the sockets were made by Cliff electronic components.

[Phil Starr]

11 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I believed him at the time, and most HIFI speakers are still made from MDF. However, working with @Phil Starr and @stevie , and with the onset of old age, I realise that careful design can make thinner, lighter materials very useable for musicians.

You said yourself that designing cabs is like modelling balloons. You press down on somewhere for an improvement and something else pops up.

 

MDF is fantastic for cabs, it's a completely uniform and consistent material. compared with other boards it is self damping and largely non resonant as a result. The extra mass helps too in a cab. It's also reasonably tough. The big problems are weight, how badly it deforms with even a little moisture and the dust it produces when you machine it. Chipboard (particle board in the US ) is good too but it needs to be high density and have fine particles at least on the outside or it is a B****r to finish well. If it isn't high density it's too soft and doesn't take knocks well but high density means just that, it's heavy. So then there is plywood which comes in so many grades but is essentially lighter and tougher than the other man made boards but acoustically more resonant and will need more bracing for a similar performance. Useable is a good word, bracing a cab extensively pushes up the time and labour costs so every cab is a compromise between price, sound quality and practicality.

 

These things go in fashion a little too, we aren't entirely rational and at one time it was never mind the quality feel the weight

 

 

[VTypeV4]

On 11/08/2023 at 23:45, verb said:

I think the sockets were made by Cliff electronic components.

 

Thanks for that.. 😀