I've decided that it's time to stop prevaricating about the bush and pop for a new cabinet. I'm looking at an Avatar, either four tens or two twelves, but am unsure of pros or cons of either configuration. Any thoughts? I already have a QSC power amp and SansAmp RBI.
http://www.avatarspeakers.com/
Any positive punditry would be appreciated.
Tens or twelves?
Moderator: jingle_jangle
What kind of sound are you looking for? I used to use 10s but now I am back to 12s and 15s. With my 2-15 Sunn cabinet I can get all the tone I need including a nice Squire-like tone if needed. Tweeters are not really neccesary unless you need to hear the hiss from your amp. I vote for the 2-12 cabinet, or better yet, get two 1-15 cabinets.
I looked at the very same cabs, I also have a SansAmp RBI, and B&K power amp. I would go with the 2x12 cab because it's tuned lower, plus it's a bit easier to transport. Avatar told me it was their best sounding bass cab. If I wasn't planning on moving, I'd buy one....or two. You might want to consider a couple of Celestion G12H80 speakers in a cab. It can play bass if your power needs are modest and need a more vintage bass tone (Entwistle "My Generation" or Jack Bruce sound), and it turned my guitar combo amps into decent bass amps. At $42 each, the G12H80 is a steal.
Right now, I'm using 6.5" Polk monitors in my bedroom. These little boxes actually work better in a small room than regular bass cabs and they have a combined total surface area of a single 10" bass driver, but of course the frequency response is much more full range, at least 40Hz-20kHz. Works well when using a preamp like the SansAmp RBI through an audiophile amp to get your amp tone. Just about any tone is possible without the limitations that bass cabs with 'character' have. It allowed me to sink my money into a pair of RBI's that allow much more tonal freedom because a dual combination of sound can be played at once through my stereo amp.
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jwr2
I have played through 10's 12's 15's 18's fender, sun, peavey, acoustic, ampeg, and more ... I have even run direct into the pa ...
10's and bass guitar seem to work really good ...
12's seem to be better for guitar ...
15's and 18's can be mixed in with the 10's for big gigs ... or mike it all into the pa ...
10's and bass guitar seem to work really good ...
12's seem to be better for guitar ...
15's and 18's can be mixed in with the 10's for big gigs ... or mike it all into the pa ...
Phil said
I continue to hear very nice things about Polk."I'm using 6.5" Polk monitors"
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm
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Peter, the nice thing about those old Polk speakers is that the cheap ones were almost as good as the expensive ones. Matthew Polk's idea of a better speaker was a bigger box with more of the same speakers he used in his cheaper speakers stuffed in it.
My Polk RT5's cost $200 with stands in almost mint used condition. They were made in the mid 90's. They prefer vintage tube amplification, or will sound a bit forward in the lower treble on solid state. Fairly efficient at 91dB, so they work well with low powered vintage tube amps. Have rubber surrounds instead of foam so they don't rot out after a few years. Heavy for their size and can play fairly loud for little speakers. They prefer small rooms to bump the deep bass up as loud as the rest of the range. Surprising for the cost, if you need a small "almost audiophile" speaker for a small room and have a low power amp.
Old vintage tube amps will have their weaknesses revealed by the latest crop of audiophile mini-monitors, but the Polk RT5's seem to liven up the sound. Great cheap speaker for that old Dynaco, Heathkit, EICO, Fisher, Harman-Kardon, or H.H. Scott amp you might run across or have gathering dust in the closet. Will sound louder and livelier than that old Advent speaker you might have used in the 60's and 70's. My Heathkit W-5M amps sound better with these cheap little speakers than with my high end Vandersteens. My modern Conrad-Johnson amp is just the opposite.
You might want to try a 1 to 2 ohm resistor in series with this Polk speaker if forced to use solid state, in order to duplicate the output impedance of a tube amp. I was used to hearing sonic dreck in the RT5 price range, so these were very significant speakers, widely sold in the mid 90's, and recommended by Stereophile magazine for newbie audiophiles to use as entry level speakers while saving their coin for true high end speakers. They sell frequently on eBay. If you can lay hands on an old EICO tube amp before word gets out what a great amp they were (Heathkits have a tendency to burn out power trannies, from my own sad experience. Half of them you run across will have that problem because they potted and shielded the tranny which caused overheating.), adding these might keep you from needing to go further, leaving more money for Ricks.
My Polk RT5's cost $200 with stands in almost mint used condition. They were made in the mid 90's. They prefer vintage tube amplification, or will sound a bit forward in the lower treble on solid state. Fairly efficient at 91dB, so they work well with low powered vintage tube amps. Have rubber surrounds instead of foam so they don't rot out after a few years. Heavy for their size and can play fairly loud for little speakers. They prefer small rooms to bump the deep bass up as loud as the rest of the range. Surprising for the cost, if you need a small "almost audiophile" speaker for a small room and have a low power amp.
Old vintage tube amps will have their weaknesses revealed by the latest crop of audiophile mini-monitors, but the Polk RT5's seem to liven up the sound. Great cheap speaker for that old Dynaco, Heathkit, EICO, Fisher, Harman-Kardon, or H.H. Scott amp you might run across or have gathering dust in the closet. Will sound louder and livelier than that old Advent speaker you might have used in the 60's and 70's. My Heathkit W-5M amps sound better with these cheap little speakers than with my high end Vandersteens. My modern Conrad-Johnson amp is just the opposite.
You might want to try a 1 to 2 ohm resistor in series with this Polk speaker if forced to use solid state, in order to duplicate the output impedance of a tube amp. I was used to hearing sonic dreck in the RT5 price range, so these were very significant speakers, widely sold in the mid 90's, and recommended by Stereophile magazine for newbie audiophiles to use as entry level speakers while saving their coin for true high end speakers. They sell frequently on eBay. If you can lay hands on an old EICO tube amp before word gets out what a great amp they were (Heathkits have a tendency to burn out power trannies, from my own sad experience. Half of them you run across will have that problem because they potted and shielded the tranny which caused overheating.), adding these might keep you from needing to go further, leaving more money for Ricks.
Bob, I think the Advents were acoustic suspension and the Polks are bass reflex with front ports and a steel bracket on back for wall mounting. The mounting brackets are a nice touch for those with small rooms and no place for speaker stands.
I thought about getting some old speaker cabs and loading them with bass guitar speakers for home use. The neat thing about these Polks is how small they are and still able to get high efficiency with fairly deep bass. Have you checked out the prices of just new finished speaker cabs without any hardware?
I thought about getting some old speaker cabs and loading them with bass guitar speakers for home use. The neat thing about these Polks is how small they are and still able to get high efficiency with fairly deep bass. Have you checked out the prices of just new finished speaker cabs without any hardware?