Neodymium speakers

[Ptron]

Any of you folks out there that have experience with any of the neodymium “family” of speakers care to share your opinions on them? I’m planning on getting a 12” one for my ultra-light-all-purpose amp. Mainly I want to know if any of them just plain suck ass.

I was leaning towards the Jensen Neo, as I’ve been pretty happy with their reissue speakers, but then I read this blurb from Ted Weber which gave me pause:
“Where we would typically have 11K of energy in an AlNiCo, and maybe 13K of energy in a ceramic, they had over 15K in a neo. That's nice, except we can go overboard on anything and this is no exception. That much energy oversensitized the speakers and made them hard and harsh at high volumes with distortion. The first ones were unbearable. Eminence and Celestion got a handle on it and made the necessary changes. As a result, they both have very good neo guitar speakers. The rest of the marketers are still clueless, apparently.”
Full quote here:https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/ (under Neomag speakers.)

I have a couple of Ted’s speakers as well and like them quite a bit but his neodymium ones are barely any lighter than the 50w ceramics or alnicos I would otherwise get, which kinda defeats the purpose of buying neodymium in the first place.

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

I've used the Eminence, NEO Lil' Texas and the NEO Tonker Lite in my tweed 5E3 and the 5F11 V-lux clone (with the 12" speaker baffles).
I like them both and the speakers weigh like... uh nothing.

Bruce

[mooreamps]

In my Raptor 2x12 cab, the upper speaker is a 12 inch Celestron Neodymium mag New Century. Makes a great treble speaker. I have 4 15 inch Jensen Neo's for the 4x15 I plan to build shortly. So, I've not had the chance to hear them as yet, but if you put the Jensens in a proper cab, they should sound really good !!

-g

[Konny]

I have a Celestion Century Vintage in a 1x12 DIY Cab and I must say I really like this Speaker.

Lots of low end and smooth highs. And most important, not those ugly mids as the V30. To me the Century Vintage is THE 12" speaker.

I think I´m gonna put that thing into my Diezel Cab, I just love em.

[Alexander]

Another thumbs up for the Eminence Lil Texas & Tonkerlite. Plus I have a pair of the Jensen 10" Neo's that sound great. Musical tones that reflect what you're hitting them with. Truly a guitar speaker, no super thick cones here!
I haven't tried the Jensen Neo 12's.

"If it sounds good, it IS good!"
-Duke

Cheers,
Alex
Retrodyne Amplification
Home of NO Clones
http://www.myspace.com/retrodyne_amplification

[petemoore]

I tried some Neo Sp's long ago and said Ptphafff, all harsh and nasty, louder and super penetrating though, kinda cool in a way, had good time at that jam but they were harder sounding than the Cer's and Al's magnets I'd been used to.
..When he very recently bought a *neo replacement speaker I though 'Phtphafff' again, but upon listening and playing it I was surprized because it didn't seem to exhibit any or much of the 'insta-undisrable' tonal content I'd found in the eariler Neo, the speaker is called '*Rocket'...don't know how they compare, passable/good at the time [>his SS amp rig etc.].
I've been recently using all Neo 3-way powered PA columns, reports are excellent, and they are earning a 12 on my old scale of 10.
After reading above, I'd like to see a top shelf speakers, Neo / alnico, A/B'd.
Interesting thread.
For higher power, the weight thing Is important to me.

[Joe Bee]

I a major German amp builders forum (www.tube-town.de) the common opinion is that most neos are so-so, but the Jensen is very highly regarded and deemed to sound quite like a vintage 30. Nothing of the harshness of other (older) neos, and lots of people have been switching over to that. I know it is the speaker I would buy if I were to build a cabinet.

[Alexander]

Eminence Neo models

Hey I just swapped out a broken-in Greenback for a new Eminence TonkerLite in a 2-EL84 amp...wow! sounded good right out of the box, and a friend is keeping the amp for a few weeks to break in the speaker further. The Tonkerlite is not nasal, but clearly Brit flavored. I didn't have any 30 watt or bigger amps in house to drive it, though it's clearly a thin enough cone that 18 watts drives it great! NO loss of volume compared to 5-year old Greenback, and same bass/treble response by 'n large. Sweet!

I had a similar experience with the American-flavored Lil Texas- also really cool in it's own right. When I get the Tonkerlite back I'm putting both them T-lite & the Lil Tex in a 2-12 and see how well they do together. I'm really impressed what cool stuff Eminence is making these days- always great to keep the dollars out of the Commie Chinese hands too, which is who you're aiding and abetting when you buy most current Celestion/Vox products!!

Keep on rockin' in the Free World,
Alexander
Retrodyne Amplification
http://www.myspace.com/retrodyne_amplification

[plaid braisley]

i use a very small (17x20x14)sealed cab with an eminence kappalite 3015 in it . i use an older g-k amp .i play bass through this rig in a variety of gigs. the cab used to have a pv bw 15. i get a sound very much like an ampeg b-15 which is exactly what i'm going for.i get significantly more volume with the eminence than i did with the bw. when someone else picks up the cabinet they usually ask if i forgot to put a speaker in it.i got speaker from a steel player who bought it to try but hated it. i absolutely love it for bass.