Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am going to buy a pair of 2x10 bass cabinets. I am more interested in flat frequency response than efficiency. My present power amplifier is stereo and is rated 300WPC @ 4 ohms. The one I am planning to upgrade to is 650WPC @ 4 ohms. The Acme Low B2 cabinets seem to be what I am looking for. The discount price on Epifani T210UL cabs is $825 before S&H. Too bad the price isn't as low as the weight. The Acme Low B2 cabs are $480 delivered with a two week trial period. I can tolerate the extra 11 pounds weight. They sound like the best bargain, and one owner reported they also sound good as PA speakers and home stereo speakers on classical music! That's what I want, as I get my bass tone in my two SansAmp RBI preamps and my 4004L. I need speakers with flat, smooth, and extended frequency response. Can anybody out there vouch for the sound of the Low B2's with a Rickenbacker bass?

Sorry.. wish I could help but since I left SWR in `97 I haven't had much interest in new bass amplification. I'm kinda an old world bass amp guy. Give me an SVT or an old Sound City bass head or even a Marshall Major. I like tubes and analouge for bass!
Maybe someone else can help with this..

Try Avatar, I think they are much more efficient, and much more bang for the buck. The Acme's are very flat, but very inefficient. You'd actually need about 1,000 to 1,500 watts to really drive these cabs. They are very current hungry. Here's the link. Lots of bass players are speaking very well, a friend of mine is using 2 of the 2x12" they are very good with a Ric.
http://www.avatarspeakers.com/

Thanks for the link, Big G. I checked out the Avatars and they will not fill my needs. They are -3dB at 76 Hz!!! The Acme is -3dB at 40 Hz, and is only -6dB at 31Hz. That means that NO bass equalization is necessary down to Low B, since room boost will supply the missing 6dB and make the system sound flat. Even my little AVT20 with the single Eminence B102 gives good response down to 42Hz, the open G string frequency. Also, the Eminence B102 costs $100 discount, and $138 retail, so there is NO way the Delta 10 bass drivers in the $229 Avatar cabs equal the Eminence B102, which is a truly legendary bass driver, and the best all purpose bass driver that Eminence makes by their own admission. The B102 needs NO tweeter, since it has response out to 9 kHZ, which is WAY beyond what any bass guitar ever puts out. One way is the best way, IF you can get away with it. The B102 is simply too expensive for most cabinet manufacturers to put in their product. What DID interest me was the price of an empty Avatar cabinet; only $135. You can install a couple of B102's and some acoustic stuffing for about $225 extra ($360 total + S&H), and have some really decent cabs because you ditch the ear-bleeding horn (put a Scan-Speak resistive flow port in the tweeter hole and cram a blanket in the lower port slot. It's also a winter survival blanket if you live in Canada, right Peter? ) and still get crisp upper response.

I called up Andy Lewis at Acme today and we had a nice long discussion. My future Stewart amp will be 550W-650W x 2 (up to 2100W in bridged mono), so I can rock out with a couple of Low B2 cabs. Most of my use will be in small to medium sized rooms. The Acme cabs employ pre-stressed walls and acoustic treatments that were notably absent in the Avatar cabs. My main usage is amp modeling, so I need something close to audiophile loudspeakers that have been ruggedized for bass guitar usage. The RBI preamps do an excellent job of providing good tone that only needs clean, uncolored amplification. My SansAmp RBI's are about to be inserted into my Vandersteen/Conrad-Johnson high end audio system, so I may have need of nothing else for home practice for quite some time. It should be good for at least 110dB down to 30Hz.

Don, you should hear the RBI's on the SVT setting through an audiophile amp/speaker setup! I can play an SVT through one channel while playing a Bassman through the other. I had no trouble getting a tone that was close to my Marshall bass amp as well. With a SansAmp RBI, it's like owning a truckload of bass rigs in a little single space 5 pound rackmount package. Andy Lewis designed the Acme Low B2 for just such front end equipment. I'll probably take him up on his two week trial. I can only lose return postage if I don't like them.

If I ever go with the Avatars, I will just get the empty cabs and stuff them with B102 or BP102 bass drivers.

Don,
I'm with you, I've been using SVT's since 1975 and have never felt the need to buy anything else, there is no substitute for the real thing. I just lug it in, turn it on, twiddle the knobs a little bit and know that I got the best bass amp made, it always sounds good. A new 4003 with Pyramid flats and an SVT is the punchiest sound I've heard, outpunches a P bass. By the way, after I bought my first SVT, I sold my Marshall Major and have been kicking myself ever since.

Oh Philco...
You will likely love the Acme B2s. I foolishly sold off an Acme Low B4 that I used to drive with 700 watts from a Gallien Krueger RB2000 (700 @ 8 ohms / 1000 @ 4 ohms). It was the most divine sensation to FEEL bass in my leg bones! And what freedom to not need gobs of EQ! Just a little tweak of the GKs "contour" knob gave me "my idea" of the pure unadulterated tone of my basses!
Two B2s are what I will get when the time comes around for me to have a personal rig again!
And dealing with Andy Lewis on the phone is a pleasant experience. Any issues that may come up, he's there for you!
As long as Andy explained the particulars on power, I can vouch for the very distinct probability that you won't be disappointed!

I hope you get some B2's soon, Alvaro. When I called Acme, Andy Lewis quickly discerned that I was an audiophile without me ever mentioning the fact, because of my understanding of sound. We talked as much about high end audio gear as we did about bass gear. He had just gotten a killer deal on a high end turntable. Neither of us believed the claim by Epifani that their T210 is 102dB efficient (but at $1099 MSRP, it SHOULD be!). An Eminence B102 is only 95dB efficient, and it is very efficient for a 10" bass driver that reaches down to 40 Hz. As an audiophile and professional Techno Nerd, I know that the 93dB efficiency of the Low B2 is quite respectable since it reaches down to 31 Hz. Stating efficiency without mentioning lower cutoff frequency is VERY misleading, and many manufacturers are guilty of it. POWER IS CHEAP these days, so the age of the flat response musical instrument speaker has finally arrived, and Acme Sound appears to be in the vanguard.