JM Speakers - new cab design from Holland

[deksawyer]

Just noticed these when I was on Arni's Lefty page - interesting, almost vintage Hifi looking cabs.

http://jmspeakers.nl/

D.

[charic]

I can't decide whether I like them or not...

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The 5kHz crossover to the tweeter is a bad idea. Twelve inch drivers start beaming around 1.6kHz, so the highest you want to cross over is 2kHz. At the othe end of the spectrum, 50kHz response is useless. Not only can you not hear above 18khz or so, there's nothing to be gained from an electric bass cab that goes above 8kHz except hiss. The vertical alignment of the woofers is the right way to do it, but otherwise I don't see anything to recommend these.

[Beer of the Bass]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1440086596' post='2848197']
At the othe end of the spectrum, 50kHz response is useless. Not only can you not hear above 18khz or so, there's nothing to be gained from an electric bass cab that goes above 8kHz except hiss.
[/quote]

Yes, I've wondered about that with regard to the signal most magnetic pickups produce. I was reading Erno Zwaan's book (the Q-tuners guy), and it would appear that most high impedance pickups start to roll off above their resonant peak, which is much lower than 18KHz. So presumably anything going on up there is likely to be either distortion artifacts or noise. Do we really want to hear that?

[Chienmortbb]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1440105974' post='2848426']
Yes, I've wondered about that with regard to the signal most magnetic pickups produce. I was reading Erno Zwaan's book (the Q-tuners guy), and it would appear that most high impedance pickups start to roll off above their resonant peak, which is much lower than 18KHz. So presumably anything going on up there is likely to be either distortion artifacts or noise. Do we really want to hear that?
[/quote]On a passive bass the traditional Volume and Tone controls limit the higher frequencies quite a lot and although I am willing to be corrected, there is little or no output at 18KHz. Even an active bass that uses volume or blend before the preamp will kill the real highs. The only reason to go to 50KHz is to listen to interference from TV remotes or unshielded CD players.I have to agree with Bill that there is little musical sound either above 8-10KHz, or on a Kanye West song, except hiss and interference.

[mrtcat]

You would hope that whoever designed these would have known all that. Makes you wonder what other daft things they've done. They look more suited to living in the front room than out on the road.

[Phil Starr]

The coils in your pickups act as inductors and this limits the high frequencies. For any inductor the resistance of the coil effectively rises with increasing frequency, the more coils in your PUP the greater the inductance and the lower the cut off point comes in. This is why the heavily overwound PUPs sound 'dark' However our hearing is very sensitive in the kHz range and you will hear a difference between a cab with the tweeter on and off even at 5kHz unless you have rolled off the treble elsewhere.

Remember though that we are talking about bass cabs, there are all sorts of technically 'incorrect'/non flat designs that work well precisely because of their frequency irregularities. Bass amps rarely have flat responses, try playing an iPod through your bass amp if you don't believe me , and I've just fitted a J-Retro pre amp to my bass which sounds lovely precisely because it isn't flat either.

Having said that anything over 8-10k is pretty pointless, I suspect this is a cab you would choose because of it's looks.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Phil Starr

[mybass]

Near on £1000 plus shipping.....

[JTUK]

Your dogs will love them

[ras52]

Lovely looking, but unlikely to stay that way unless you have roadies with experience of handling furniture at Sotheby's.

[Dan Dare]

Agree with Bill F. 50k useless unless you are a bat. Looks a bit like a hi-fi firm trying to make instrument cabs and selling them with the same pitch they use in the hifi world, where most everyone is mad/deluded - that should start something

[Subthumper]

They look like 70s Wharfdale hi fi speakers. That finish wouldn't last five mins of gigging, those corners would soon be knocked off. Probably ok if you never took them anywhere.