Bill Fitzmaurice

You're the bassplayer, that makes you the smart one in the band. Really. The majority of top tier engineers and designers who also play an instrument are bass players. My personal experience, that many others have also stated, is that since the equipment demands of bass are so challenging they more or less had to learn the science. It's a more than worthwhile endeavor. I made a tolerable enough living as a musician when that was my primary source of income, but I made my fortune as an engineer. To be more helpful with your issue I'd need the particulars on the driver and enclosure.

The speaker thermal rating is almost meaningless, and for that matter so is the amp output. Where the speaker is concerned this is what matters: https://www.eminence.com/support/understanding-loudspeaker-data/

I haven't seen mention of it but if the DI output is XLR then it should have a low output level, otherwise it could overload the board input.

If the EQ is flat at noon what it gives you is the same result as if they weren't there at all. They're not supposed to be merely for decoration. It's a far cry from the 60s, when we all played valve amps with mediocre speakers. The usual protocol then was to turn everything to '10', unless of course you had the option to go to '11'. 😎

"If it sounds good, it is good". Duke Ellington. Even before the current FRFR craze there was the 'set it for flat response' craze, where players would automatically set all the tone controls at noon, resisting advice to do otherwise, because they wanted flat response. It was a silly notion, because nothing in the signal chain is flat, starting with the pickups, ending with the room. If they somehow had managed to get truly flat response it would have been as bland as flat beer.

It's listed as -10dB at 50Hz. That's not full range. It's what you'd expect from a main intended for pole mounting, with subs handling below 80Hz. The only advantage I see to it is that the 1.8kHz crossover from the woofer to HF horn makes far more sense than the usual 3.5kHz or higher crossover from woofer to tweeter in bass cabs. Not that a 3.5kHz or higher crossover from a woofer to tweeter makes any sense. It doesn't. 🙄

Your Ashdown is a passive speaker.

Valves need a load because current always flows through the output transformer primary winding. SS needs no load because when there's nothing plugged in to the output no current flows from the output devices.

Hoffman's Iron Law and the presence of standing waves are not related. Phil Jones cabs are not line arrays.

The power handling chart has limited value, as power alone doesn't reveal maximum SPL capability. By the same token the transfer function magnitude chart doesn't reveal sensitivity. IMO the chart order of importance is SPL, Maximum SPL, Impedance, Rear Port air velocity and then Maximum Power. The primary use of Maximum Power is to plug that value into the Signal Source window, then check the Rear Port air velocity to see if it's no higher than 20 within the intended pass band.

I wouldn't mic so close to the cab in a live situation that it would make any difference.

The SM57 and 58 use the same cartridge, only the grille is different. https://www.shure.com/en-GB/support/find-an-answer/sm57-vs-sm58

I've never cared to hear anything coming out of my rig other than me, it's very distracting.

Plan B is OK assuming the speakers are not part of your backline. You'd be a very unhappy camper were that the case.

Crossing over at the usual 80Hz there's little to no vocals in the subs anyway, nor guitar. But there's plenty of content above 80Hz from both the bass and the kick that should be in the PA. Even when I don't bother with subs I always run the bass and full drum kit through my PA, not for volume, for dispersion.

You'll need more than one. Power and driver displacement requirements go up exponentially as you go down in frequency. If you have a pair of ten loaded tops it will take a pair of eighteen, or very high end fifteen, loaded subs to keep up with them. If it's an outdoor gig you'll have no low frequency boundary reinforcement, which means doubling the sub count for the same result as indoors. All things considered you're best off renting.

Chances are whatever mics are employed are chosen by the sound company hired for the gig. Considering that his EV loaded cabs are incapable of going really low there's no need for anything with extended low frequency range.

Since you brought it up, dispersion. A pair of 210 vertically stacked is better, as everyone can hear it better, yourself included.

He has a valve amp. He does not want his cabs series wired. He does not want a 20 ohm load.

Again? Really? Wasn't this addressed less than 48 hours ago, as well as in the sticky? OK, one more time, with feeling: SS amps have a minimum load, valve amps have a maximum load. Run an SS amp with a load equal to or higher than its minimum load rating, run a valve amp with a load equal to or less than the tap rating.

SS or valve? SS amps have minimum impedance loads, valve have maximum impedance loads. In this case run SS at 2 ohms, valve at 4 ohms.

As far as I'm concerned that article is a myth. My first amp was a '65 Fender Bassman that I bought new. In the US everyone who could afford them played Fender, everyone turned on both the power and the standby switches at the same time after setting up, and everyone used the standby switch for beer, or other substances, breaks. I also never heard a pop from using the switch, or saw a driver or power supply cap damaged as a result. Quoted from a '60s Fender Concert Amp manual: Standby Switch: This switch turns the amplifier on and off. In the Standby position the amplifier is off; however, the tube filaments are left on as to eliminate warm up time, provided that the main Power Switch is on. Use of this feature during short breaks versus using the Power Switch will increase tube life.

There's no need to wait. the amp just won't work until they're warm. The only reason for standby mode is so you can shut down the amp on a break without having to touch the volume, and not have to wait for the tubes to heat again when break is over. Many amps don't even have a standby mode and they're none the worse for wear for the lack of it.

High output from small lightweight cabs requires two things: long excursion neo magnet drivers and cabs made of 12mm plywood with extensive bracing. Neither comes cheap.

Jacks are still around so new amps/cabs can be used with old cabs/amps equipped with jacks. However, Neutrik has made a combination speakon/jack amp output connector for at least fifteen years, so any amp designed within that time frame has no excuse for not having a speakon output. On the cab side the use of an input plate equipped with parallel speakon/jacks might add two quid to the build cost, so there's no excuse for the lack of it there either. To the best of my knowledge there's no legal issue with jacks in Europe. What was made illegal was banana jacks/plugs, as they could fit into AC outlets used in some locales.