Cab Speaker Question

[BASainty]

I have a Behringer BA410 cab, its rated at 1000 Watts but as many reviews have stated this cab cant do anything near that, I assume its the speakers in the cab which determine what power it can churn out?

My cab has been upgraded by the previous owner with 4 10 inch Celestion speakers rated at 250 watts each, first question is does this mean the cab is still 1000 Watts?

My second question is with these new speakers would the cab be more true to its 1000 Watt description?

[Mr. Foxen]

Watt ratings are meaningless, so its all not worth considering. Its a thermal rating, and thermal has nothing to do with sound, or the point where the cab farts out, or where it breaks. As to what the new speakers will do for you, entirely depends on the new speakers, and how they suit the box, as mentioned, the watts part means nothing useful.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1375888657' post='2167006']
Watt ratings are meaningless, so its all not worth considering. Its a thermal rating, and thermal has nothing to do with sound, or the point where the cab farts out, or where it breaks.
[/quote]+1, useful power handling is determined by the driver xmax, and said useful power handling can be as little as 20% of the driver thermal rating. To find out what a driver can really do you need its T/S specs and then use speaker modeling software to model its capability in the cab that its loaded in. That will give you the displacement limited power handling, which in a perfect world all speaker manufacturers would provide, but the world is far from perfect.

[BASainty]

Wow just when I thought I was starting to get my head around all this turns out I still know nothing!

Is there a dummies guide to amps and cabs? It would be very useful indeed.

So really the only way to know without going down that long winded route will be just test different heads through it and see what it can cope with?

[xgsjx]

The best places I've found for info are on Bill's website & also on the Barefaced website, they both explain a lot & make things a little easier to understand.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1375903376' post='2167272']
Wow just when I thought I was starting to get my head around all this turns out I still know nothing!

Is there a dummies guide to amps and cabs? It would be very useful indeed.

So really the only way to know without going down that long winded route will be just test different heads through it and see what it can cope with?
[/quote]

Or if sellers gave you useful information on their cabs. Maybe just deal with the ones that do.

Edit: barefaced page mentioned above: http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information.htm

Edited August 7, 2013 by Mr. Foxen

[Musky]

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1375903376' post='2167272']
Wow just when I thought I was starting to get my head around all this turns out I still know nothing!

Is there a dummies guide to amps and cabs? It would be very useful indeed.

So really the only way to know without going down that long winded route will be just test different heads through it and see what it can cope with?
[/quote]
You could take a read through some of Alex's information on his [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information.htm"]website[/url], as well as the pdfs of articles he wrote for BGM.

The main bit of practical info to remember is, if you can hear your speaker starting to groan under the strain, turn down the bass EQ and/or volume.

Edit: Beaten to it. Twice!

Edited August 7, 2013 by Musky

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1375907163' post='2167370']
You could take a read through some of Alex's information on his [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information.htm"]website[/url], as well as the pdfs of articles he wrote for BGM.

The main bit of practical info to remember is, if you can hear your speaker starting to groan under the strain, turn down the bass EQ and/or volume.

Edit: Beaten to it. Twice!
[/quote]

That`s the main thing, irrespective of claimed handling or technical know-how, let your ears decide.

[Conan]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1375909304' post='2167416']
That`s the main thing, irrespective of claimed handling or technical know-how, let your ears decide.
[/quote]

This!

So much depends on the amp you use and the settings you dial into it. Turn up the "bass" control and most cabs will struggle to provide you with much useful volume. You will also muddy up the overall sound and have problems hearing yourself. Reduce the bass and add more in the midrange and you will be able to go "louder". You will also be more audible and probably fit in better with your band's mix!

That said - Behringer gear is not exactly what you might call "top-end". It can do a job if you don't ask too much of it, but if you want a cabinet (or more than one) that can handle high volume and give you a decent sound - you will almost certainly need to upgrade to something better (and, sadly, more expensive). Such is life.

[BASainty]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1376036974' post='2168769']
So much depends on the amp you use and the settings you dial into it. Turn up the "bass" control and most cabs will struggle to provide you with much useful volume. You will also muddy up the overall sound and have problems hearing yourself. Reduce the bass and add more in the midrange and you will be able to go "louder". You will also be more audible and probably fit in better with your band's mix!

That said - Behringer gear is not exactly what you might call "top-end". It can do a job if you don't ask too much of it, but if you want a cabinet (or more than one) that can handle high volume and give you a decent sound - you will almost certainly need to upgrade to something better (and, sadly, more expensive). Such is life.
[/quote]

Yea I mean I had band practice yesterday so it got to put it through its paces and I got to say it stood up very well and sounded pretty excellent, everyone commented on it and said I sounded better using the Behringer cab rather than the Peavey Combo which I have been using prior.

At first it took a bit of messing about with the settings on the head but I done what you said, turned the bass down a bit and boosted the Mids and it gave me a very distinctive sound which cut through and fitted in nicely with what we are doing. The cab actually performed pretty well, the upgraded Celestion speakers made it sound much better than the original aluminium ones, coped very well when used under pressure.

Im sure that after a while I will want to venture into trying new cabs but for now this will do me nicely.