Bill Fitzmaurice

That was many decades ago. It was so long ago that XLR had not yet become the standard for microphones and interconnects. Once that happened they stopped using them on amps and speakers, lest people plug connect low level and high level devices in error. That concern didn't stop us from using 1/4" connectors for both signal and speakers on our amps, but until Speakon came along there wasn't much choice.

You'd best make sure of that hookup. Speakons are used for high level, XLR are used for line and low level. If you're connecting a high level output from a speaker to the line level input of a powered sub the result would be magic smoke. If you're sending the low frequency output of a sub amp to tops they wouldn't care for that either. Making your own isn't much more difficult than changing a set of strings using all Neutrik solder-less connectors.

Where neos are concerned there are a few others who use Eminence OEM neo drivers based on the Kappalite motor, but most use the Deltalite II. I'm not aware of any other OEM ten that's the equal of the 10CR. For that matter Eminence doesn't sell a retail ten that equals it. 'With the same drivers'. Tens with 250cc of displacement are rare, and most that do exist are made for PA, so they're not so good in the mids. FWIW the benchmark SVT ten has 165cc displacement.

Do you have a question?

One Barefaced 210 is at least the equivalent of a pair of inexpensive 210s. How much is only having to carry one cab instead of two worth to you?

Put it in whichever position sounds better. If you can't tell the difference set it at 8 ohms, for minimum current draw from the amp.

Unfortunately most small venue systems share the same basic design flaw, they place the mains above the subs. That prevents you from placing them properly, which is with the subs clustered and wall loaded. That costs low frequency sensitivity and results in low frequency power alley. Not that point source mains placed above subs are any better in that regard. 😒

1/4 wavelength. At 50Hz, the lowest we need to be concerned with, that's 1.7 meters. At 100Hz that's 0.85 meters. Lifting by half a meter or less would have negligible effect. Something like this, with adjustable height, is versatile: https://www.amazon.com/Gator-Frameworks-Guitar-Combo-GFW-GTR-AMP/dp/B00HWRDSVM/ref=asc_df_B00HWRDSVM/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312176484647&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18219144107276526533&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002322&hvtargid=pla-437152798758&ref=&adgrpid=62521174299&th=1 There are devices to keep an amp head from sliding off as well.

You can get that with 210s stacked vertically, giving the height of an 810, but you can also get it by lifting and tilting back a 210. There are a number of stands made for that purpose, at considerably less cost and pack space than a second 210.

One BF 210 will match or even beat many 410s, dual 210s or 212s in maximum output. It's all about displacement. https://barefacedaudio.com/pages/how-speakers-move-air-volume-displacement Displacement is a critical spec that every bass cab should list. AFAIK BF is the only one that does.

You need a bluetooth transmitter, or a pre-amp that has one built in. Google them.

Technically speaking the difference between 236 and 450 watts is less than 3dB, which is audible, but just, so TC thought they'd get away with their subterfuge. TC engages in this specmanship for no other reason than greed, wanting to maximize sales through false advertising. They didn't anticipate anyone actually testing their amps. Not at all surprisingly many actually came to their defense, in effect saying they didn't care if they were lied to so long as the amps sounded good. The idea that people don't care if they're lied to so long as they hear what they want to hear is hardly confined to audio. 😒

And you've got TC Watts, where their lame explanation for the blatant exaggeration was 'Well, no, it's not actually 450 watts, but it sounds like 450 watts'. 😒

Someone who really really knows what he's doing isn't fooled by the smoke and mirrors. You actually can cheat an honest man, but it's very difficult to cheat a man who's well informed.

Why? Because the competition does it. No one wants to lose a sale because they didn't play the same numbers game as the rest.

The actual maximum SPL could be accurately predicted using speaker modeling software if one has the driver Thiele/Small specs, the exact enclosure details, and the thermal and mechanical compression data. Thermal power compression is the result of the heating of the voice coil. When it heats its resistance increases, which causes a loss of efficiency. The hotter it gets the greater the loss. Mechanical factors also reduce driver efficiency as power is increased. The main culprits are the spider and surround, which lose flexibility near the limits of their extension. But thermal and mechanical compression data is by and large unavailable, so we assume that these losses result in 6dB lower maximum SPL than a linear swing voltage to SPL calculation predicts. Manufacturer data is usually even further off, as they never consider the driver mechanical voltage limit, only the thermal limit. Where peak power is concerned that's never a part of the equation. Cone excursion is always calculated using voltage swing, never power.

Piezos can sound very good, when correctly employed. The trouble is I've never seen them properly employed in commercial cabs. I run them down to 2kHz at high output with very low distortion. But even in a 1x10 I never use fewer than six of them, and only with a real crossover.

Non-budget PA cabs do come with semi-decent specs. But 'non-budget' means two thousand quid and up. Even then the numbers don't always add up. For instance, maximum SPL claims are seldom measured. They take the 1w/1m sensitivity and calculate the max SPL from that. But that calc doesn't take into consideration real world issues, like thermal power compression and driver excursion limits. And if they're using peak power for the calculation it's bogus anyway. Experienced acoustical engineers are aware of these shenanigans, and knowing the full driver, enclosure and amp specs can make accurate performance predictions. The other 99.99% of users are at the mercy of the marketeers. 🤥

Marketing. They also use 'music power', 'peak music power', and my favorite, 'peak music power output'. It's all bovine excrement.

I never slap and always use tweeters. However, mine are effective from 2kHz, so they operate nearly a full octave lower than average. The reason is that there's a lot of content in the 2kHz-4kHz range. While woofers for the most part have response in that region it's with very narrow dispersion. Tweeters have wide dispersion there, so I don't get the high frequency laser beam effect. Above 8kHz there's little I want, so I roll that off with my EQ. As to why commercial cabs have such a high crossover to tweeters, back when they were first introduced tweeters capable of going to 2kHz were both rare and expensive, so 3.5kHz to 4kHz capable tweeters were used. That practice should have ended back around the turn of the century, but it didn't.

The subs to tops ratio isn't a problem per se, but the fact that those Bose barely qualify as subs is. And then to place the line source tops side by side instead of stacked, with the subs split to either side and not wall loaded, indicates that his technical knowledge base consists of the Bose advertising and no more. What's worse, though, is that the Bose manual makes no mention of how to employ multiple units, or how to properly employ subs. For that matter the very design that pretty much forces users to mount the tops above the subs is totally flawed. It's why friends don't let friends buy Bose. 🤥

This brings up an important point: one person should be in charge of all things PA, the one who knows the most about it. That tends to be the bass player, as the challenges of our amplification forces us to become knowledgeable about it. We don't have the luxury of being able to plug into just about anything and have it sound good. Besides, we're just smarter. 😄

What's not been mention is that cab power ratings are thermal. In the vast majority of cases they run out of mechanical power capacity at well below their thermal rating, in many cases at no more than half the thermal rating. AFAIK the only brand that gives their mechanical rating is Barefaced. The good news is that when the mechanical limit is reached the driver will distort, giving you fair warning to back off the volume. But that does you no good if you use distortion effects, so if that's the case you have to be very cautious.

Never use 1/4" connections when there are XLR available, for a number of reasons. If your singer isn't comfortable with that give him one of these: https://pixabay.com/vectors/loudspeaker-man-boy-holding-1459128/

I'd say you're fine, as the only people who'll be listening to you are those close to the stage. The rest of them near the bar aren't there to hear you, they're there to drink and with any luck not go home alone. I've played many places like that where if there was any comment about the sound it was that it was too loud and was interfering with people's conversations at the bar.