A triple One10 or upgrade to a couple of Two10's?

[largo]

I have a Mesa Subway D800 and couple of Barefaced One10's and 99% they work really well. Once or twice though, I've felt I just needed a bit more "heft" for want of a better word   If I'm being honest, it's usually pub gigs rather than the usual wedding stuff and it's probably when I want to feel the bass as much as hear it.  Anyway, my question to the masses is... Should I get another One10 (could make this my home/practice rig) and have a 3 x One10 stack for the pub gigs or should I bite the bullet, sell a One10 and go for a Two10 so I always run a 3x10 setup.  I'd welcome some opinions & if anyone has run a 3x10 stack before it would be great to hear from you.

 

Edited January 2, 2018 by largo

[chris_b]

The cheapest option is to get another One10, but I got a Two10 that recently came up for sale and I'm very impressed.

I ran my Two10 and a One 10 together a couple of weeks ago and it sounded very good.

For me the Two10 is probably a keeper.

 

[CameronJ]

IMO the most practical course of action is to sell one of your One10s and get a 4 ohm Two10.

[Bigwan]

If I recall correctly, Alex at barefaced has talked folks out of the 3x10 setup in the past... Not enough of an improvement over 2x10 to bother. It was something I'd considered in the past myself, but Alex knows his beans so avoided it as soon as I heard he'd expressed his opinion (but open to being corrected by chris_b who has first hand experience!)... 

The D800 does 2 ohms so why not add a 4 ohm Two10 to your pair of One10s? Ultimate modular setup! 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Bigwan

[chris_b]

I have run a 310 and it sounded pretty good. I can't see that moving 50% more air can be a bad thing. I already own these cabs so I shall be using them in the future if they are appropriate for the gig. So far the 10's haven't made me want to sell the SC's. 

I am looking at another Two10 though. Two of those would be a neat stack. . . and horizontal would be my preference as I don't want any more racket anywhere near my poor old ACS plugged ears. With Alex's cabs I can hear everything clearly. I know what I sound like and as long as I'm vibrating the hell out of my knees I know I'm loud enough.

[Lozz196]

Looking at the practicalities, the One10s are full range speakers, whereas on the Two10 one is full range, one is low-range only. So with three One10s the eq-ing woud be pretty much the same no matter what the combination of cabs, whereas with the One10 & Two10 maybe eq would need adjusting depending on which cab used singly/both together were used. Not that big a deal, but something to consider. That said, adding some lows in on bigger stages automatically, whilst keeping the same eq could be an advantage.

[largo]

Thanks everyone for your comments & advice. 

One of my thoughts with going for the Two10 is aesthetics, I'd really prefer the badges to be right-way up and if I go for a Two10 & One10 then both badges are on their sides. So, I'll likely go for another One10 based purely on that. 

However, I'd be interested to hear why Alex doesn't think a 3x10 is worth the bother so might drop him a PM unless he's reading this and is happy to answer. If, like he say's these little cabs are as good as a decent 15" or 2x10" then it will be like going from a 4x10 to a 6x10 and that's got to shift a bit more air!  The added height will also help bring the stack to ear level, 45" for 3xOne10 or 48" for 2xTwo10 

Still happy to hear other thoughts though.

 

[mcnach]

you can probably remove the logo and reattach in your favourite orientation?

[largo]

Unfortunately not with the cloth grills 

[Merton]

Alex recommended the 3x10 solution for me a couple of months back; I went down the One10 plus SC route in the end for various reasons and I am very happy

You can get a Two10 made with the logo in the correct orientation - discreet did exactly that

[dannybuoy]

20 minutes ago, largo said:

Unfortunately not with the cloth grills 

You can ask Alex to make it with the badge in whatever position you want with the cloth grille as far as I know. It's the steel grille where your options are limited because there is a special space for it in the design.

[largo]

Alex did say he could do a Two10 with the badge aligned for vertical but it came with a customisation charge!  I won't say how much but it wasn't cheap to simply glue it in a different position.  I'm pretty certain I'll go with another One10 and stack them 3 high. It'll be quite narrow so hope it doesn't topple over! 

[chris_b]

With the 310 stack the name plates are all over the place. Doesn't look great!

Some attention to the visuals in the design stage would have helped, but I'll endure what it is for the sake of the sound. 

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, largo said:

Unfortunately not with the cloth grills 

 

aaaah! 

[machinehead]

Alex, if you read this... put the name badge diagonally in the corner.   That way, it wouldn't matter if a cab was horizontal or vertical.

It might require a smaller or different shaped badge, but it would allow symmetry with both orientations.

Frank.

[alexclaber]

On 1/1/2018 at 10:20, Bigwan said:

If I recall correctly, Alex at barefaced has talked folks out of the 3x10 setup in the past...

I think I said one thing once to one person regarding their specific situation and now it's become gospel! Where is the facepalm smiley when you need it? ;-)

A badge that looks great both ways around would be amazing - not so easy to design one though!

[largo]

Too late now anyway, the third One10 was ordered this morning and if Alex "gets the finger oot" as they say in Scotland  I'll have this for my next pub gig on the 27th! Reports to follow but I'm certain I'll be very happy and the guitarist in the band will (hopefully) complain I'm too loud.  

Always thought the Acme cab badges worked well for horizontal & vertical, maybe something like that for your One10 & Two10 cabs where they can be positioned both ways. 

[dannybuoy]

Maybe a magnetic badge you can peel on and off like a fridge magnet... bonus being you could also put it on your fridge when not playing through your BF cab.

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, largo said:

Too late now anyway, the third One10 was ordered this morning and if Alex "gets the finger oot" as they say in Scotland  I'll have this for my next pub gig on the 27th! Reports to follow but I'm certain I'll be very happy and the guitarist in the band will (hopefully) complain I'm too loud.  

Always thought the Acme cab badges worked well for horizontal & vertical, maybe something like that for your One10 & Two10 cabs where they can be positioned both ways. 

 

Will you use them with the D800?

Really curious to hear what you think about the result  I hope the thunder tower doesn't topple over easily!

[largo]

Yes, plan is to use these with the D800 & fingers crossed it's not a bouncy stage 

[Bigwan]

2 hours ago, alexclaber said:

I think I said one thing once to one person regarding their specific situation and now it's become gospel! Where is the facepalm smiley when you need it? ;-)

Sorry Alex! Didn't mean to misrepresent you sir. Perhaps this will suffice: 

[obbm]

Has anyone tried a 12-ohm Two10 together with an 8-ohm One10?  Combined impedance is a satisfactory 4.8-ohms so no problem with an amp but I just wondered what it sounded like in practice.

[dannybuoy]

You would end up with almost double the power (it would be double for a 16ohm cab, but only Alex himself knows how they manage to get either 12 or 4 ohms from these cabs!) going to the One10 than going to the Two10... Then since the Two10 splits that between 2 drivers, the speaker in the little cab is doing up to 4 times as much work as the other two!

My maths are probably out a bit but it doesn't sound like a good idea.

[OzMike]

Don't know, but will know soon - bought a 12-ohm Two10 from the classifieds here to combine with my existing One10. Yes, the 8-ohm One10 will receive over half of the power of the amp, but I figured with a 500W RMS/4 ohm rated amp the end result with 3 x 10" speakers will still be significantly louder and fuller than 300WRMS into the single One10. It also leaves open the option of running the Two10 @ 200WRMS, still plenty enough for rehearsals I reckon.

[dannybuoy]

Assuming the drivers are wired serial in the 12-ohm cab (and parallel in the 4-ohm cab), you could get the power distributed evenly among the speakers with a serial cable or switchbox (which OBBM knows all about as he builds them!) but then with 20-ish-ohms on the amp your output power will be lowered significantly!