4X12 speaker configuration

[blakestree]

Hi,

I ended up getting a Jet City slant 4X12. The cabinet arrived with the magnets of two of the driver split in half! One was floating around in the cab! Fortunately, I was refunded enough to purchase two new Reaper 55Hz, which I saw myself doing eventually anyway.

My question is, how best to arrange the two sets of speakers? I intend to use the cabinet mono and in stereo. When in stereo, I will use two different amps. This makes me want to install one set on each side. However, I don't know if it would be wiser to install them diagonally, or with the 55Hz on the bottom. What do you think?

[AxAxSxS]

X

[The Mad Titan]

X

+1

X 'em, and wire up two stereo sides, each with a mixed speaker pair.

[blakestree]

X

+1

X 'em, and wire up two stereo sides, each with a mixed speaker pair.

Care to elaborate on why this is preferred? I assume it's a better mix in mono. But, it has been my understanding that the greater the difference on each side, the better the stereo effect. Maybe that is wrong. I could also see the advantage of having the speakers with the lowest response on the bottom.

I'm not fightin' the power. Just curious.

[The Mad Titan]

Sure. For me speaker matching is about finding complimentary combinations that provide a bigger, more 3d, richer tone than either speaker would have provided on its own. So if I was splitting them I would want to be able to have stereo sides, each with a mixed pair, but I would also want to hear each speaker as equally well as any other characteristics (sensitivity, tone) allow. That's why I tend to keep all my speakers between 100 and 102 db and match pairs to suite each's strength and weakness.

Also, if you're worried about achieving the largest stereo spread, then it's not speaker types you need to worry about, it's the distance between stereo pairs of speakers. You are not going to get a large and well defined spread out of 1 cab.

Trust one who knows. The girls left and right are mine, the Peebee is my budz.







^ Now has Mesa OEM V30's and EVM12L's in it instead, since the Fanes are in the Mesa with my G12H(55)'s.

[antennafarm]

the mad titan knows what's up.

i am breaking into his house later to steal his shit.

[The Mad Titan]

the mad titan knows what's up.

i am breaking into his house later to steal his shit.

Say hi to Ra, my 110 lb White Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. He'd love to meat you.

[antennafarm]

does he give kisses?

(for real, though... gorgeous pup)

[The Mad Titan]

does he give kisses?

(for real, though... gorgeous pup)

I wish. He's very stingy with them, but every once in a while he surprises me.

Thanks, he's an awesome boy.

[misterstomach]

I know others have had different experiences probably, but mine has been that running two heads into one cab has always sounded bad. I don't know if there was some phase cancellation or something happening, but I always had weird shit going on. Loss of lows and overall bad sounds in general.

[AxAxSxS]

all on point. another thing to consider....

The JCA cab I looked up has "Custom eminence drivers" and is rated for 400 watts. so if you have 2 of those and two reaper 55's you can wire the sides to be 60/200, or 130/130.

Personally I'd rather not have the option of plugging a powerful head into a side rated for 60 watts. You may not have a head like that now, but why limit yourself.

[The Mad Titan]

all on point. another thing to consider....

The JCA cab I looked up has "Custom eminence drivers" and is rated for 400 watts. so if you have 2 of those and two reaper 55's you can wire the sides to be 60/200, or 130/130.

Personally I'd rather not have the option of plugging a powerful head into a side rated for 60 watts. You may not have a head like that now, but why limit yourself.

NO YOU CAN'T!!!!

If the Reaper's are 30 watts, then the most any side with one Reaper and any other speaker rated 30 watts and above can be is 60 watts. When speaker matching the rule is your wattage rating = n(x), where n is the number of speakers and x is the wattage rating of the lowest watt speaker.

My Mesa cab for example has 2 100 watt Fanes and 2 30 watt Celestions. Total wattage rating is 120 watts.

[AxAxSxS]

well shit, I wasn't aware of that. looks like I have some checking to do.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, on the subject of stereo out of a 4x12, the fact is that you're going to get very little in the room no matter how you wire it.

It's about depth and a little bit of movement IMO, but you're not going to necessarily get that running two different amps (or even two of the same) into one cab. Frequency cancellations and the like are going to be a fact of life in that type of array, with none of the advantages of running two or more amps/cabs with some actual spread.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 4x12 (stereo) but the amp head is so it was a no brainer. But whether right next to it, or in the next room, there's very little stereo effect, especially when compared to say, running the three amps in the room in parallel.

Even something like a Jazz Chorus it's a case of depth of field more than specific OMG stereo, and the other thing as a long-time JC and stereo cab user....

..more gain you add, the more traditional the rock/sludge tone, the less the stereo effect even in an already diminished environment with a single cab.

Also FWIW, when I mic the cab (a lot of times I use the DI on the head as it's got speaker-voiced out), if I run stereo mics, one is close and one is room, same as I'd do on a mono amp. It's that relatively insignificant even with pingpong and other obvious stuff.

TL;DR is "Get two amps" if stereo is what you desire that you can feel and use.

[blakestree]

Sure. For me speaker matching is about finding complimentary combinations that provide a bigger, more 3d, richer tone than either speaker would have provided on its own. So if I was splitting them I would want to be able to have stereo sides, each with a mixed pair, but I would also want to hear each speaker as equally well as any other characteristics (sensitivity, tone) allow. That's why I tend to keep all my speakers between 100 and 102 db and match pairs to suite each's strength and weakness.

Also, if you're worried about achieving the largest stereo spread, then it's not speaker types you need to worry about, it's the distance between stereo pairs of speakers. You are not going to get a large and well defined spread out of 1 cab.

That makes good sense for why to mix them, per side, but what about the 55Hz on the bottom and Jet City's on top?

I am probably being too optimistic about stereo effect from the 4X12. Knowing that, inside, has probably fueled my desire to make each side completely different. I originally thought about using my Pro Junior combo and a 1X12, with Micro Terror, for better separation. However, I ultimately decided pushing air was more important to me.