OT: Speaker cabinet dimensions?

[campj0le]

I just bought 2 new 12" Eminence Black Powder speakers and am having trouble finding anything on box design. I have found and read alot on the net over the past few days but nothing to the fact of this dimension for this kind of sound and so on. Does anyone know how to decide dimensions for a single 12" cabinet, for guitar, so that I can see how these things sound. Thanks for the help in advance!!!!!

Black Powder
http://www.eminence.com/eminence/pages/products02/patriot/powder.htm

Spec Sheet
http://www.eminence.com/eminence/pages/products02/pdf/blackpowder.pdf

[mikeb]

I'm no expert, but for open-backed cabs I think anything that is big enough to hold the speaker would be fine. It's only for vented or sealed cabs that dimensions are important (i.e. have an influence over speaker response and activity).

Have you seen this?
http://www.diyguitarist.com/GuitarAmps/SpeakerCab.htm

and this:
http://colomar.com/Shavano/construction.html
(look for the stereo cab plans)

Mike

[phat-ass]

If you're going to build open back cabs the dimensions don't matter. Closing the backs is where it gets a little weird.

http://www.duncanamps.com/technical/speaker_cab.html

The above is a link to a great article about all of this.

http://www.speakerbuilding.com/software/

Good software listing. I like WinISD. It has it's detractors. If you have Excel try this

http://home20.inet.tele.dk/kou/ubmodel.html

It's very good.

phat

[black mariah]

I was going to build custom cabs as a business for a while, but that fell apart. :cry: The dimensions I decided on for a 1x12 were 18x18x14. What's magical about these numbers?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  :lol:

I just went with what would be large enough to let the speaker breathe but still be small enough to be carried with one hand. Most manufacturers work the same way.

As far as tuning... that's really a dark and scary area. You can spend days trying out different combinations of wood and dimensions and still not change the sound enough to matter. There are ways of making tonal adjustments when you're done with the cabinet, adding baffles or insulation.

In short, just build the cabinet to the size you want. A good sounding speaker will sound good in even the crappiest of cabs. I have a friend that verified that the hard way. *SHUDDER*

[Paul Marossy]

I personally don't think the dimensions of the cabinet are that critical. For a 1x12 cab, 18"x18"x10" or 12" seems to be a good size, IMO. Most guitar speaker cabs aren't ported, and you can adjust the bass response some by using some fiberglass batting inside the cabinet. Where cabinet size and design seems to matter most is in subwoofers. Besides, it's hard to find full specs on guitar speakers to do a formal speaker cab design...

[phat-ass]

Dimensions of a closed back cabinet can actually have a big influence on the sound of the speakers. And, by the way, Eminence gives out all of the parameters for their drivers.

Let me know what you think of the Black Powders. I'm really curious about those.

phat

[Paul Marossy]

That's cool. Most speaker manfacturers seem to only give you wattage and impedance ratings....

[petemoore]

Bigger is better, except that they're bigger for the amount of load they can handle. This is cone area ratio to closed box size, the larger the facia [soundboard] the better the wave tends not to just shoot around the side of the cabinet, and dude built a large 4x12 sizer with 2x 12's [JBL] in it and this sound different and great, as did the 'ratio oversize' Fender cab 4x12 with 2x12's soundboard 'n Jensens.
 The CC's of the chamber [volume] matters much to the bass as you get small-ish, less bass response and definition. The shape matters less, but does sound different when a deep cab is next to a wider/taller  thin one.
 For 'safety's' sake, going slightly thick on the wood you don't have to worry about rattles durability and resonances, though building from thinner or 'tuned' woods is part of the Marshall or Fender [old type] projection sound, making from thinner woods that actually have a controlled [that's the trick werd] resonance produces cool stuff, but yer basic 'brick style' does a find job projecting IMO, just different.
 Dude built a 4x12 from 3/4's plywood [brick style], sounds very great, he used basic Marshall bottom sizing template, 15' depth tho, quite the nice cab, a little heavier..he knows his way around his wood shop, built a straigt front cab.
 I think 2x12's sound really great in a slightly oversize [volume] closed cab...gets a little more out of them but remeber if you're the one that has to move it...think about: shape it to your car trunk or back seat, my amps and guitars like to hide in the trunk sometimes.
 Packing with insulation or other material dampens bass response and changes resonances, I've seen cabs packed almost tight with it, VOX used carpet padding? stapled around the inside.