Power handling: How much can a cab take?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='521743' date='Jun 23 2009, 09:38 AM']I'd like to get some hard data on driver failures. I know the vast majority of Acme failures are not voice coil related despite the huge power often being used to drive them and I've heard from other talkbassers in the pro-sound world that >90% of failures are mechanical failure, not voice coil overheating.

Alex[/quote]My sources include Eminence and trade-only publications. A high reported incidence of creased cones usually indicates an insufficient xlim to xmax ratio.

[Kongo]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='521743' date='Jun 23 2009, 02:38 PM']I'd like to get some hard data on driver failures. I know the vast majority of Acme failures are not voice coil related despite the huge power often being used to drive them and I've heard from other talkbassers in the pro-sound world that >90% of failures are mechanical failure, not voice coil overheating.

If more bassists used highpass filters then that would skew damage away from over-excursion but with all these low B strings around and high thermal ratings I can't see the predominant failure mode on bass guitar cabs (not pro-sound tops or horn subs) being thermal.

Alex[/quote]

Being a Low-B string user this read is interesting.
And in my main band (and only current as I like) the guitars are in drop-B so my low-b is used a fair bit.
I don't de-tune but using a 5-string it's still there.
And sometimes the lowest string on the guitars is dropped to G#...I may or may not match this depending on my mood.
That's too low for me man!

[GreeneKing]

A very interesting and informative thread.

Maybe, due to the Coriolis effect speakers fail one way on one side of the Atlantic and the other way on the other.....