Building a Speaker Cabinet

[DangerousR6]

I've made 5 over the years  2 12" singles   a 2x12  a 2x10 and a 1x15    the last 2 were 3/4" plywood .  The 2x12 was ash and really sounded great.   I've done open back , sealed and ported which I prefer,   I've always liked Celestions.

I use screws and glue , but if you have the skills , dado /dovetail is nicer.

go for it

Celestions would definitely fill in the holes.  I'd planned on sealed, but I'm wondering about porting.  Any links for this.

I could ask my brother about the porting issue. He worked for a stereo installation shop for may years, and building speaker boxes was his specialty... :icon_biggrin:

 

[DocNrock]

No worries, Doug.  I did quite a bit of reading today on the subject.  The porting only seems to make a difference in frequencies below that of a guitar.  As Jimh and Mayfly were saying, the effects of Thiele-Small properties would be negligible.  Closed back, air tight, no port!   :icon_thumright:

This is assuming that I even follow through on this project. 

That said, the output of my amp is 16 ohm.  It has been a long time since I did resistance calculations, series, parallel, etc.  To get a 16 ohm cabinet, would you wire two 16 ohm speakers in series, then wire the pair together in parallel?  :icon_scratch:

 

[ocguy106]

That said, the output of my amp is 16 ohm.  It has been a long time since I did resistance calculations, series, parallel, etc.  To get a 16 ohm cabinet, would you wire two 16 ohm speakers in series, then wire the pair together in parallel?   :icon_scratch:

If you are talking about 4 speakers then yes you are correct, 2 - 16 ohm speakers in parallel would yeild 8 ohms, so you would have 2 sets of 8ohm speakers then just run those in series for total of 16 ohms

also as far as porting your cabinet there is absolutly no need for anything above 80hz open in the back or not you won't hear a differance.

 

[DangerousR6]

No worries, Doug.  I did quite a bit of reading today on the subject.  The porting only seems to make a difference in frequencies below that of a guitar.  As Jimh and Mayfly were saying, the effects of Thiele-Small properties would be negligible.  Closed back, air tight, no port!   :icon_thumright:

This is assuming that I even follow through on this project. 

That said, the output of my amp is 16 ohm.  It has been a long time since I did resistance calculations, series, parallel, etc.  To get a 16 ohm cabinet, would you wire two 16 ohm speakers in series, then wire the pair together in parallel?   :icon_scratch:

That would make sense, because the speaker cabs he made were for hard hitting bass systems...And as you say guitar frequencies are well above that...

 

[DocNrock]

Yup, I play in standard tuning.  Low E is 81 Hz.

 

[jackthehack]

Didn't you say you worked 60-80 a week, or is that just your Warmoth/GAS hours? I did a quick trip around the country on Craigslist, and it's surprising how many name brand/decent 4x12s are available for less than the price of the 4 Celestions they contain...

On another note, checked latest pricing on Celestions and at all the major online discounters their pricing has increased at least 20% in little more than a year? What's up with that?

 

[DocNrock]

Didn't you say you worked 60-80 a week, or is that just your Warmoth/GAS hours? I did a quick trip around the country on Craigslist, and it's surprising how many name brand/decent 4x12s are available for less than the price of the 4 Celestions they contain...

On another note, checked latest pricing on Celestions and at all the major online discounters their pricing has increased at least 20% in little more than a year? What's up with that?

LOL, yes, it is true, but a lot of that time is crammed in during the week taking call and caring for emergency cases.  I still have about 3 weekends off a month.  I'll take a look at Craigslist and see what I come up with.  Regarding the Celestions, I haven't priced them last year, but about 5 years ago I bought a Vintage 30 for my Marshall 1x12 tube combo and didn't remember it costing $150!!!.  The Eminance speakers are just over half that amount. 

 

[jackthehack]

"Regarding the Celestions, I haven't priced them last year, but about 5 years ago I bought a Vintage 30 for my Marshall 1x12 tube combo and didn't remember it costing $150!!!.  The Eminance speakers are just over half that amount."

I bought some Celestion Vintage 30s about a year ago to upgrade my Blues Deluxe and an amp for a friend of mine and they ram $119, they're up to $145 online discounted. Eminence makes some decent speakers, I have them in my Blackheart cabs and a Big Ben in my Fender 75 1x15 combo; but the models that are "half the price" tend to have half the magnet mass and aren't good apples to apples comparisons. The more efficient models with similarly size magnet structures aren't that much cheaper than the Celestions.

What kind of a head are you going to drive it with? What kind of a sound are you trying to get? If you have larger music stores in your area you should take your head down and try it out through some different 4x12 cabs loaded with different speakers, most of the higher end cabs use Celestion or Eminence, might help you make up your mind easier.

 

[DocNrock]

"Regarding the Celestions, I haven't priced them last year, but about 5 years ago I bought a Vintage 30 for my Marshall 1x12 tube combo and didn't remember it costing $150!!!.  The Eminance speakers are just over half that amount."

I bought some Celestion Vintage 30s about a year ago to upgrade my Blues Deluxe and an amp for a friend of mine and they ram $119, they're up to $145 online discounted. Eminence makes some decent speakers, I have them in my Blackheart cabs and a Big Ben in my Fender 75 1x15 combo; but the models that are "half the price" tend to have half the magnet mass and aren't good apples to apples comparisons. The more efficient models with similarly size magnet structures aren't that much cheaper than the Celestions.

What kind of a head are you going to drive it with? What kind of a sound are you trying to get? If you have larger music stores in your area you should take your head down and try it out through some different 4x12 cabs loaded with different speakers, most of the higher end cabs use Celestion or Eminence, might help you make up your mind easier.

What I play through is a Peavey JSX 2x12 combo.  120w.  It sounds great, but the open back design lacks some tight chunky bottom end for heavier stuff.  It weighs 85 lbs, so its staying put.  Guitar Center and Guitar Trader are both relatively local; I could take a look and see if they have a JSX I could plug into a few different cabs.  FWIW, the Eminence speakers that caught my eye were the Man O War.  $89 at Guitar Center online.

 

[DocNrock]

So I just took the Christmas tree and a few other items to the dump.  On the way back home, I stopped by a place I found on the web called Hardwoods and Hardware.  Not only do they have 5'x5' sheets of 3/4" 13 ply baltic birch ($37 ea.), they also have pretty much everything one could want to build a guitar from scratch.  Every wood Warmoth offers is there:  Wenge, Alder, Purpleheart, Cocobolo, Zebrawood, Lacewood, etc.  I think I spent more time checking out the hardwoods than looking at what I went there for.

Then I went to Home Depot to price biscuit cutters.  They had a Ryobi for $99.  While I was walking through Home Depot, I had another idea.  Jack, you were saying that one could get a beat up 4x12 cabinet for less than the cost of the Celestions in it.  Bingo!  Build the cabinet, buy a beat-up 4x12, harvest the well broken in Celestions, and load the new cabinet with them.  If not in too bad of shape, one could also harvest the corners, handles and casters.  Then dump the old cabinet.  :icon_thumright:

 

[mayfly]

And it gives you a working blueprint to follow.  genius - evil genius  :evil4:

 

[jackthehack]

A lot of what I was seeing was NOT beat up, everything below has high end Celestion speakers and is $500 or less:

 

[DocNrock]

The best deal I found in the San Diego Craigslist is a Carvin Legacy cab with Celestion Greenbacks for $375.

However, I did find a beat up Marshall with Dime airbrushed on the grille for 250...Definitely would dump the cab.  Nothing against Dime, but I don't want him airbrushed on my cabinet face.   :laughing7:

And it gives you a working blueprint to follow.  genius - evil genius  :evil4:

:icon_thumright:

 

[Nando Vallart]

However, I did find a beat up Marshall with Dime airbrushed on the grille for 250...Definitely would dump the cab.  Nothing against Dime, but I don't want him airbrushed on my cabinet face.   :laughing7:

Send to me :laughing7:

 

[Nando Vallart]

What is porting?

 

[DocNrock]

What is porting?

Most subwoofer enclosure have a hole with a tube in it of defined length that vents the cabinet so as not to impede the movement of the driver.  These ports are usually calibrated to the driver's thrust parameters.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Hummm Thanks!

 

[DocNrock]

Carvin Legacy gone.  Dime Marshall 1960A still there.  $250 at a pawn shop...wonder if they'd take $200?  Unless swapped out, it should have G12T-75s in it.  It was posted Dec 29th.  If it is still there in a week, I might give them a call.

Also found a Line6 Flextone 4x12 used at the local Guitar Center for $175, but I don't think these come with Celestions.