There are situations though where the speaker and enclosure design are quite surprising and (from my perspective at least) challenge the idea of what should work well or not.
As an example, I recently had a 350W bass-sub powered system in for repair with an 8" speaker. I thought it was going to be less than spectacular, but that thing really shook the workshop. A light and rigid glass-fibre cone with huge x-max for the size, and a super flexible suspension, but a tiny (but long) voice coil. I wondered what it would be like as a guitar speaker and it reproduced treble just fine, the limitation being the cutoff frequency of the power amp LPF.
Increasingly, bass guitar is being handled by ever-smaller drivers. 4x6" cabs are commonplace. Maybe not the projection of larger units, but no shortage of low-end. The modern trend for emphasized bass in recorded music has probably been responsible for the adoption of improved drivers in instument amplifiers. I don't think there's been an engineering reason why this couldn't have been done years ago - just perception and fashion. When I began playing, 18" speakers were pretty common for bass. I rarely see them these days other than in PA systems.
There are some setups that I've encountered that sound much better than they ought to; A combo with 3x7.5" eliptical TV speakers used for double-bass, a 3x10" staggered vertical guitar cab in a restricted, closed-back enclosure, and a plastic combo with 2x2.5" drivers.
And what about those Mk1 Peavey Nashville 400 combos with the 15" pancake magnet speakers? Sweet treble and wonderful mids. Well-balanced and a delight to play.
As an example, I recently had a 350W bass-sub powered system in for repair with an 8" speaker. I thought it was going to be less than spectacular, but that thing really shook the workshop. A light and rigid glass-fibre cone with huge x-max for the size, and a super flexible suspension, but a tiny (but long) voice coil. I wondered what it would be like as a guitar speaker and it reproduced treble just fine, the limitation being the cutoff frequency of the power amp LPF.
Increasingly, bass guitar is being handled by ever-smaller drivers. 4x6" cabs are commonplace. Maybe not the projection of larger units, but no shortage of low-end. The modern trend for emphasized bass in recorded music has probably been responsible for the adoption of improved drivers in instument amplifiers. I don't think there's been an engineering reason why this couldn't have been done years ago - just perception and fashion. When I began playing, 18" speakers were pretty common for bass. I rarely see them these days other than in PA systems.
There are some setups that I've encountered that sound much better than they ought to; A combo with 3x7.5" eliptical TV speakers used for double-bass, a 3x10" staggered vertical guitar cab in a restricted, closed-back enclosure, and a plastic combo with 2x2.5" drivers.
And what about those Mk1 Peavey Nashville 400 combos with the 15" pancake magnet speakers? Sweet treble and wonderful mids. Well-balanced and a delight to play.
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