My Bass Cab Design

[sdclc126]

Greetings All,

I'm going to be adding side-firing bass units under my 2-ways, making them look like seamless floorstanders, but I came up with an idea of a modified enclosure, angling the woofers slightly forward. So I just thought I'd share the idea.

This is primarily an architectural endeavor, to add visual interest - I thought it would be nice to be able to see the woofers from the front and although these are bass units there may be some benefit in the off-axis also.

I haven't seen this before, but if I'm not the first no biggie. I'll post some photos when I'm done. BTW, my 2-ways are Dayton reference 6" + 27TBFC/G, the Daytons soon to be replaced by Usher 7" 8945Ps (both designs by Jay_WJ). The woofers will be Dayton Classic 10s; the final cab volume will be ~ 1.0 cu.ft. Should be plenty of low end in my smallish room but I have a sub I can call for back-up if needed.

[Andersonix]

I don't like it, because it wastes volume and is not simple enough to construct to make the added visual interest worthwhile. In addition, possibly my engineering sensibilities trigger a gimmick alert? Or is it fear of a mild horn loading effect?

Why not go with a gentle taper (or curvature) in some direction (or two)? Then the visual interest is more subtle. I like the idea of side-firing woofers as they could give you the flexibility of pointing them inward or outward and have a slim profile.

[sdclc126]

Hm -

It only wastes volume if the final volume ends up being inapropriate for the application.

As for construction simplicity and it being worthwhile, well I guess that's really up to the individual doing the build.

Gimmick alert - gimmicks are really only in the commercial realm - this is a personal preference. I would use the word "unique" as opposed to gimmick.

Mild horn loading - VERY mild if at all - the "wedge" is going to be very slight in the real build - the rendering is only an approximation.

The wedge itself really does have the gentle taper you refer to - it simply doesn't apply to the entire wall of the cab, which then would not blend with the upper 2-way cabs unless I did the same to them. A gentle outward taper on the entire wall would actually take away from the slim profile we're both talking about.

Curves are rather involved endeavors also - I like the sharp angles on mine.

[sreten]

Hmmm........

Adding $23 sealed bass units to perfectly adequate (in a small room)
$100 low distortion 7" units does not seem like a good idea at all.

Making a floor standing vented 2-way with the Usher makes sense.

/sreten.

[ShinOBIWAN]

I have to agree with sreten.

To make this worthwhile I'd be looking at the Peerless XLS10. Its a low distortion sub, plenty of clean output and works excellently in a 1cuft sealed enclosure.

As for the aesthetics, I like it. Who cares if the volume is wasted, as long as the application demands are met it really doesn't matter about wasted volume. That design is FAR more pleasing than some plain old rectangular eye sore, call me superficial but speakers are ugly at the best of times so anything to add interest is a welcome addition in my book. The horn loading point is mute at the frequencies this will be working within.

Let us know how things go, it looks like an interesting project.

[sdclc126]

Originally posted by sreten
Hmmm........

Adding $23 sealed bass units to perfectly adequate (in a small room)
$100 low distortion 7" units does not seem like a good idea at all.

Making a floor standing vented 2-way with the Usher makes sense.

/sreten.

My budget is limited and I put my money where I felt it would go the farthest - the midrange; bass distortion is much less audible. I like the idea of taking the low frequency burden off of the smaller drivers and giving it to ones dedicated just for that job. Also, whenever I move to a larger place I'll already have what I need. I should also have mentioned that these will in time be active, so I will be able to adjust gain and crossover to suit.

Shinob - thanks for the positive feedback on the cab design; as for the XLS, I've actually owned a few in the past and know their capabilities, so in my application I feel that would be overdoing it for music listening. Remember I do have a sub - it's actually an 8" XLS - there was a very limited run on them. If I had two of those I would definitely use them instead of the Daytons, but finding another one is exceedingly unlikely.

All said, I've done a lot of experimentation over the years and if I don't like the way a project works out I do something else - that's why this is called a hobby!