SUB ray5-ws First impessions

[rnolan]

You could also try some Altec 15"s (I've got a pair not cabbed yet), they made/make? a musical instrument varient (which are the ones I have, haven't heard them yet though but Altec made/make great speakers), or some JBL 15"s
(I used it with my Music Man HD 130 with the original speaker inside before the speaker off-ed itself), can you get the MM 15 re-coned ?  I just had the 15" EV in my EV 3 way TL and another out of a EV TL 15" cab re-coned, wasn't cheap though got the last 2 re-cone kit in the country and $400 AUD each (ouch), they sound great though.

An important cosideration with speakers and cab combinations is the speakers resonant frequency (FS, Q etc) as the box needs to be designed (tuned/ported) accordingly so the res freq is phase cancelled (or the res freq is lots louder than the rest).  So getting the speaker the cab was designed for (i.e. re-cone it) will save you this grief (as will buying a 15 with the same res freq as the MM)

[BrokeDownSouth]

An important cosideration with speakers and cab combinations is the speakers resonant frequency (FS, Q etc) as the box needs to be designed (tuned/ported) accordingly so the res freq is phase cancelled (or the res freq is lots louder than the rest).  So getting the speaker the cab was designed for (i.e. re-cone it) will save you this grief (as will buying a 15 with the same res freq as the MM)

+1 again.

I was going to bring this up but couldn't put it that eloquently.  Maybe you could find the original speaker on the used market.  Or email some of the manufacturers and see if they can recommend a replacement.  What is the original speaker?

[rnolan]

If you still have the original speaker/spider, see if someone has a re-cone kit for it (they probably are available ?), when you fry a speaker (which it seems to be the case), it burns out the voice coil (the insulation on the copper coil windings brakes down (melts) and shorts out), the fix for a speaker is new cone (as it's attached to new voice coil  ), you can fit it yourself (I'm sure lots of you tube clips on re-coning, but it is a bit of an art), re-solder connections from voice coil to spider,  :whoohoo!: away you go.  However, as I found out with my EV 15, the re-cone was expensive and I probably could have bought a new speaker for the same (if not less) price, but hey, it's an old school EV with a new lease on life, still sounds very good and is matched to the box/xover/power handling etc.

Hey BDS, unusual for an Australian to be described as eloquent  O:-) .  The original speaker (my guess) is likely to be Eminence (though not sure), Fender used Eminence 12s in Twins etc allegedly so when Leo went off to do music man he may well have continued with them ?

There's a mob in Australia (Melbourne) who took over the old Plessy Rola factory (http://www.melbournemusiccentre.com.au/auxpage_lorantz/), some of their offering would no doubt be similar (they could probably do the re-cone) but that's lots of heavy shipping, old school 15s way a tonne, big heavy magnets.....

[kawai2g4b]

I unloaded the original speaker frame because of the repair cost potentials.  At the time I had too much other gear trying to off themselves to consider speaker repair.  Also the original speakers, while great, don't have significant power handling...= no solid state for my active basses.  The HD130 is about as much as it could handle.  I definitely may look into Eminence speakers with the aforementioned proper specs.  Every time I have heard their stuff, the fundamental tones and mids really burst out with a controlled high end, even with their 10s.  Seeing as I will pair a 2 or 4X10 cab with tweeter, my treble reponse will come from there and not the 15.

Once again, I appreciate the additional input!  I definitely would not have put that much thought into those points otherwise.   ;D

[rnolan]

No worries, good luck with it.

[BrokeDownSouth]

 

Let us know what you buy and how it turns out!

Here's the Eminence Speaker tech:

http://www.eminence.com/guitar-bass/bass-guitar/

[BrokeDownSouth]

Not considering your cabinet geometry, this would be a good option for a 15" 'sub'.

http://www.eminence.com/speakers/speaker-detail/?model=Kappalite_3015LF

[kawai2g4b]

UPDATE: Well, cab dilemma is solved.  Ended up getting a ported 15" cab with a McCauley 6000 series driver in it for $99.  After testing, I have ZERO complaints about the results, has a nice booming but controlled bottem end with great mid clarity.  WIN!  Thanks for all your help again!

[rnolan]

  glad it's worked out my friend!