Speaker experts - ceramic equivalent of Eminence 3015/Faital 15PR400?

[Bigwan]

I have in my possession a Laney B215 cab. It looks awful, but it's physically sound and measures suspiciously like 2 TL606 cabs pasted together. It's currently loaded with 2 Peavey Black Widows (the non-bass variety strangely) - the cab came to me like this. I'd like to load it with something a bit more appropriate, but weight is absolutely not an issue. I don't plan on moving the thing more than a few times in its life and the rougher it looks and heavier it is the happier I'll be as I'm intending to use it in a rented rehearsal space. Can anyone suggest a driver with similar/equivalent specs to an Eminence 3015 or Faital Pro 15PR400 (which model reasonably well in the cab with some tuning) that weighs about the same as a neutron star? Or should I spring for the Faitals and a few rolls of roofing lead?

Edited May 4, 2021 by Bigwan

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Use this: http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/

[Bigwan]

15 minutes ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

Use this: http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/

First rate Bill! Thanks, I'd never seen that site before!

[Balcro]

Hello Bigwan,
What's the size of the the old Laney beast. Any idea of the internal volume and secondly, (couldn't find any online pics) what is the diameter and length of any ports?

15" speakers seem to need between 50 & 150 litres each to work well in a cabinet. A lot of variation. Let me know the figures.

 

[Balcro]

Meanwhile, you can have a look at these.

https://faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=151060110

https://www.fane-international.com/view-product/SOVEREIGN-15-600LF#tab-1

[Bigwan]

On 05/05/2021 at 10:54, Balcro said:

Hello Bigwan,
What's the size of the the old Laney beast. Any idea of the internal volume and secondly, (couldn't find any online pics) what is the diameter and length of any ports?

15" speakers seem to need between 50 & 150 litres each to work well in a cabinet. A lot of variation. Let me know the figures.

 

Sorry, @Balcro I missed your initial message for some reason!

2 separate chambers, dimensions are as follows:

24" x 15.25" x 16" (internal) (610mm x 387mm x 410mm)

2 ports, each 4" (101mm) internal diameter, 4.5" (114mm) long

I'd imagine it looked a bit like this in better days:

Edited May 12, 2021 by Bigwan

[Phil Starr]

I assume this is the cab in this thread? So I bought a heap... - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

Have you addressed the issues you mentioned there, fixed the leaks and checked the glue on the old Peaveys? Without fixing the leaks and other issues replacing the speakers won't solve the problems.

It was quite common for 2x15's to use speakers not initially designed for bass, Peavey used the 1501Black Widow in their own 2x15. It has the metal dome and was designed for guitar but sounded great for bass. Excursion was terrible by todays standards 1.6mm from memory but the cab was more than loud enough. If this is sitting in a rehearsal room I'd fix everything i could and just stop worrying, if it blows then you are no worse off and you can replace the speakers then. 

If not then the Beyma's recommended in the previous thread are still probably your best value for money replacements. Avoid anything with LF in the designation like that Fane. They are designed to be the LF part of a 2-way speaker system with a horn and will sound very dull in a 2x15.

[Bigwan]

45 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

I assume this is the cab in this thread? So I bought a heap... - Amps and Cabs - Basschat

Have you addressed the issues you mentioned there, fixed the leaks and checked the glue on the old Peaveys? Without fixing the leaks and other issues replacing the speakers won't solve the problems.

It was quite common for 2x15's to use speakers not initially designed for bass, Peavey used the 1501Black Widow in their own 2x15. It has the metal dome and was designed for guitar but sounded great for bass. Excursion was terrible by todays standards 1.6mm from memory but the cab was more than loud enough. If this is sitting in a rehearsal room I'd fix everything i could and just stop worrying, if it blows then you are no worse off and you can replace the speakers then. 

If not then the Beyma's recommended in the previous thread are still probably your best value for money replacements. Avoid anything with LF in the designation like that Fane. They are designed to be the LF part of a 2-way speaker system with a horn and will sound very dull in a 2x15.

You know I'd forgotten I'd even started that thread - thanks for the reminder Phil! I did deal with the issues on the cab at the time, but it doesn't sound particularly pleasing with the BWs, albeit solo at the minute. Holding off on rashly changing drivers may be the sensible move.

[Balcro]

Hello Bigwan.
Using your supplied box measurements, my earlier suggestions didn't work out, but I think I may have found the answer.

Without making any physical changes to the Laney cab and assuming that the two separate enclosures are well sealed between them, i.e 2 discrete & seperate air-tight enclosures linked together, I tried modelling the Beyma 15 WRS400 in a volume of 96.8 (gross) 94litres (net of drive unit & ports) & with two 4" ports. Well, I reckon it will do the business.

You end up with a very conservative power handling of 295 watts per drive unit, that is just before xMax. System tuning is in the region of 52Hz. If port chuffing is ever audible or a problem just replace the existing ports with 100mm internal diameter drain pipe and cut to a length of 19cm This will lower the tuning to 43.5Hz & the chuffing will be gone.

[Balcro]

PS.  For the mounting information & dimensions, download the datasheet from here...

https://www.beyma.com/en/products/c/low-mid-frequency/115WRS408/altavoz-15wrs400-8-oh/

[Bigwan]

Thanks @Balcro! I'm holding off changing anything until I can play the cab with my band in the setting it was intended for and then we'll see what's what!