Noob needs help with spkr cab project please...!

[ihatesignons]

*Had posted this in incorrect place, now rectified, will ask mods to delete old thread.*

Hi guys! I'm new to the forum, and new to building amps, but have a quick question or two, if you guys can help.

I've edited this post, for two reasons. One, to cover a few more queries I have, and two, because I gather, from responses I've read in other threads, people don't like questions referring to speaker preference, and I can understand why, as it is so subjective.

I have an ampmaker.com SE-5a kit, and am looking to build it into a kind of mini stack, for future mods and versatility. Having used some common sense (which may or may not be 'actual' sense!) I gather that as far as heads go, they're a box for the amp, and do nothing to colour the sound, if grounded and lined properly.

I would imagine, though, speaker cabs are an integral part of the tone. I have been reading, and as i suspected, MDF or similar is too dead sounding, and most people use pine or ply. I had been thinking about some mahogony or oak, as I have some from a couple of bits of antique furniture I dismantled.

I was wondering if there was any tonal difference, worth speaking of, to different hardwoods when used for cabs, or if they are all much-of-a-muchness sound-wise?

Also, grille cloths......I had been thinking of some super thin, super low density foam, with a decorative metal mesh pressed over the top to give some texture, but suddenly thought i could lose some high end.......any experience with things other than the standard tpye grille cloths? I like the idea of the open weave wicker, but was after something a little darker really....

cheers in advance for any replies guys,

Wil.

[mooreamps]

The, ah, last 2x12 I built ; I used mahogany ply. Sounds OK and it's lighter than MDF.

-g

[Glass Snuff]

There will be differences, but nothing really predictable. The thickness and size of the panels will overrule the material. There's something to be said for making the cabinet non-resonant - it will work equally well with any speaker you choose. Still, resonant boxes have their fans.

The danger is you'll get a resonant peak at one frequency making the cabinet honk with certain notes. The good news is, you can always dampen the cabinet by adding braces.

The proper acoustic foam should work well for a grill. Bear in mind, guitar speakers don't put out much above 5K, if that. It needn't be that thin, really. The old JBL 100's used about 3/4" thick foam grilles, which were then painted. Standard guitar grille cloth isn't that transparent, either.

In fact, check out this article:
The "Mitchell Donut"

[ihatesignons]

thanks guys for the advice and info....

was mainly thinking about hardwoods for aesthetic reasons, and as i shan't be gigging with this cab, i want something that'll suit where its gonna live, and the weight isn't really an issue, as long as i can get it into the car for the occasional jam.

Interesting article about the mitchell donut, anyone here tried this?would be interesting to hear people's experience ofit, although the freq. response graphs are fairly convincing.

i guess i'll build it out of what i have to hand, and see what it sounds like. I'ts gonna be open backed, so that will reduce the chance of the cabinte honking, although i do appreciate th wood will have it's own resonance also.

cheers for the input guys

[Glass Snuff]

There's a huge thread by Jay here:

Speaker Directivity

The summary is, a lot of people tried it and liked it. The few that didn't mostly ignored the warning that it will reduce the treble - if you take away the beam you'll have less high end, duh..... As Jay says, if you stand in front of your stack and listen to the beam, you'll need to turn up the highs to hear what you used to. If you have a combo on the floor or stand off to the side, then you can be confident that now the audience is hearing what you hear.

Anyway, as someone that's been involved with speakers for almost 50 years, I can vouch for Jay's math and theory. The guy knows his stuff, and the donut is an elegant bit of engineering. ( It was first seen, btw, in an ElectroVoice home speaker released in the early '70s )

Good luck with your construction. Compared to hifi stuff, guitar cabs are pretty much free form. If you stay away from a cube shape you should come up with something that can be tweaked to sound great. Honestly, looks count more than acoustics.

[RudeBoy]

<snip>Honestly, looks count more than acoustics.

Interesting. Is that true with things other than cosmetics - say coupling cap choice or other selectables?

[Glass Snuff]

Interesting. Is that true with things other than cosmetics - say coupling cap choice or other selectables?

You have coupling caps in your cabinets?

[Steve Conner]

It's a well known "pseudo-internet-factoid" in audiophile circles, that the nicer looking hi-fi components score better in reviews.

[Glass Snuff]

Never believe anything you read on the pseudo-internet!

It's true though, your wife and drummer will be more impressed by the looks.

BTW, speaking of hifi, there's little to be learned from there. Hifi speakers are reproducers and strive for waveform accuracy. Guitar speakers produce music, and distortions in various forms are all part of the game. Guitar speakers are designed to operate 'in free air', so box dimensions, while influencing the sound, are not critical.

[cowboy]

If you're thinking about using pine, think about that some kinds of wood i.e pine is a relatively soft wood, and eats some of the lows. While harder woods i.e plywood is relatively hard, and therefore it's louder and doesn't remove any frequencies.

[olddawg]

Unless you just want the fun of building it a speaker cab, look into the Epiphone VJ Cab. It is a 1X12 semi-open back cab with a suprizingly good Eminence speaker in it. For $129 it can't be beat. I think it's made of birch ply. 70 watts rated. Small, light, looks good, sounds good. Some people are even mounting amps in them.