Bill Fitzmaurice

What's happening is that the low frequencies from the subs are not directionally locatable, as their wavelengths are too long compared to the distance between your ears. Really. Binaural hearing allows us to triangulate sound source locations only when the wavelengths are short enough so that the ear/brain can detect the difference in the arrival times at the left versus the right ear. That occurs on average above 100Hz. Since we can't tell where the low frequencies are coming from we take the directional cues from their harmonics, which are coming from the tops. This is what allows us to place subwoofers away from the tops, in both live sound and home theater. My HT folded horn sub sits 30cm to my side in my living room, where it does double duty as a table. My mains are 3 meters in front of me. I cannot tell that the sub is next to me, the bass seems to be coming from the mains, even when movie low frequency sound effects are reaching 120dB.

You're getting all the width to the sound field as is possible already. The midrange drivers insure that the upper woofer doesn't go high enough to get beaming from it, bi-amping insures that the lower woofer doesn't go high enough to get beaming from it, and having the midranges vertical insures the widest possible dispersion from them. Plus the tweeter takes over where the midranges start to droop off-axis. The tweeter in the lower box should be shut off.

The port isn't right for sure. A port of that diameter is appropriate for one ten, but not four. That raises the question as to if the cabinet volume is correct. I suspect it's too small. The idea behind this cab is a good one, but the execution appears to be lacking.

Try it. The speaker will distort at levels far below what it would take to damage it. If it does turn it down and/or reduce the bass EQ.

Don't double post. 😒

No one can give a definitive answer without knowing what you have for an amp and cab. I can say that you've fallen into the watts trap. Watts don't determine how loud or low your rig will go, not with respect to the amp, not with respect to the speaker.

So we'll call that 30L tuned to 65 Hz. Two that will work well are the Celestion TF1230S and Lavoce WAF 122.50.

And the port? If there is one.

Precise measurements of the cab are the first step.

While it may sound bass heavy the reality of reggae is it's midbass heavy. This is an RTA of The Wailers, through a no holds barred million quid system, taken in the FOH, the best seat in the house. Most of the energy is between 60 and 180Hz.

These quite different experiences point out that it's not the brand that matters, it's the specific cab. One might as well be asking 'Any experience with Toyota?' That depends. Toyota Aygo? Or Toyota Mirai?

Not 4x but 2x at any rate. Indoors the bass bins get boundary reinforcement, outdoors they do not. That translates to no less than 6dB less output to the audience outdoors. Doubling the cab count realizes 6dB additional output.

Hire, with a sound man. In terms of what you need for outdoors versus indoors it's at least twice the kit.

That would be my guess.

Ask your girlfriend if size matters. 😲 Where speakers are concerned cone area doesn't, cone displacement does. But box size is the other way around. All else being equal (though it never is) the larger the box the lower it will go. What this boils down to is that without a lot of information that speaker manufacturers don't provide you can't know how any two cabs will compare. If I was to venture a guess I'd say the Mesa is more capable than a single Big Ben.