Interesting Speaker design

[crez5150]

[url="http://www.eminence-speaker.com/fdm.asp"]Eminence[/url]

[Dood]

I think it's a brillaint idea, if it works as they describe, however:

[quote]It’s like switching amps in the middle of the set.[/quote]

errrr.... yes - if you have an electric screwdriver and time to pop the back off your sealed 4x12 to naff about with the controls! Fine for an open back combo, maybe - but I think for everyone else it'd have to be a 'set and forget' - which seems a bit pointless.

[chris_b]

[quote name='dood' post='719218' date='Jan 20 2010, 04:33 PM']....yes - if you have an electric screwdriver and time to pop the back off your sealed 4x12 to naff about with the controls! Fine for an open back combo, maybe - but I think for everyone else it'd have to be a 'set and forget' - which seems a bit pointless....[/quote]
It'll never be set to anything other than flat out loud!!

[Lfalex v1.1]

I'd assumed that they were for open-backed cabs/combos... So not exactly aimed at us bassists.

Also, how do you know that you've set multiple drivers to the same setting, and what effect might that have on your amp?

[Ancient Mariner]

The settings won't affect the amp because the speaker will present a constant load. The idea of having a tone control in the speaker leaves me with mixed feelings, since most amps have a perfectly good set of tone controls to begin with, and one would specifically not want tone to change with attenuation. But there's another issue, in that a substantial part of what makes us want to play loud is the behaviour of speakers working hard and the way they sound when they're pushed a bit. I'm not sure this has been thought through very well, although I can't really say without trying the final product.

[henry norton]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='723231' date='Jan 24 2010, 05:02 PM']The settings won't affect the amp because the speaker will present a constant load. The idea of having a tone control in the speaker leaves me with mixed feelings, since most amps have a perfectly good set of tone controls to begin with, and one would specifically not want tone to change with attenuation. But there's another issue, in that a substantial part of what makes us want to play loud is the behaviour of speakers working hard and the way they sound when they're pushed a bit. I'm not sure this has been thought through very well, although I can't really say without trying the final product.[/quote]
It's not a 'tone' control, it just reduces the speaker output, presumably by moving the magnet or coil closer or further away from one another. Looking at the graph it looks like a pretty linear response low to high although you're probably right about the speaker distortion - I doubt whether that's taken into account on the graph and overdriven speakers are as much of a holy grail as overdriven valve power amps, ie, unattainable without blood (usually from the ears....).

It's a good idea but probably fairly limited, although I'd be more than happy to knock nine decibels off most guitarists I've played with