Light weight speaker cabs

[jaberwock]

Have just purchased a Mesa Boogie TA 15 "lunch box" amp head, and I'm now looking for a compact, light weight 1 x12 to give me a super lumbar friendly, club rig, I have seen Flite 1x12's http://www.flitecabs.com/about_us/ weighing in at 12.3 pounds !! with a Celestion neo driver, any body here ever try them ? I read on the net they use a two layers of quarter inch ply with a half inch foam layer between them; as I have an unused Celestion century vintage driver in the closet somewhere, I was wondering about trying a DIY project, basically a birch frame with glued in ply wood/ foam panels for the sides, and a half inch baltic ply baffle.......... anyone have any thoughts.

Jaberwock

[hectorp]

This is not exactly answering your question about DIY cabinets....but if you (or anyone) is looking for a commercially made light weight 2X12, I would recommend the THD 2X12. It's 'landscape' format , but conveniently has a handle on the side and is quite portable and sounds great. They show up on eBay from time to time and are not ruinously expensive.

[JohnnyB]

The neo magnet is a significant part of the equation. You get the flux of a really big conventional magnet in a form factor about the size of a cookie. Second, that foam core cabinet paneling sounds like a good idea, and may work better than conventional plywood. The purpose of a cabinet is to contain or manage the backwave of the speaker and quell resonances and vibrations resulting from cone movement. Having a cab of dual or multiple components and densities should more easily kill unwanted vibration better than an all-wood laminate. It's called constrained-layer damping and it's successfully used in all kinds of applications where structural integrity and vibration control are both important.

[django49]

This is not exactly answering your question about DIY cabinets....but if you (or anyone) is looking for a commercially made light weight 2X12, I would recommend the THD 2X12. It's 'landscape' format , but conveniently has a handle on the side and is quite portable and sounds great. They show up on eBay from time to time and are not ruinously expensive.

+++

I like the small size and the mismatched speakers. Takes some looking to find a reasonably priced used one. I think the list is $700+.

[jaberwock]

Thanks for the replies. Flite will ship me an unloaded 1x 12 cab to me here in the Far East for 300 $, and while I like the idea of a wood working project, it is an experiment with a somewhat uncertain outcome, and I'd have to source all the handles corners fittings etc, still undecided.

I do love the idea of a 1 x12 cab that weighs 11.5 pounds, and a 12.5 pound amp with it's own gig bag; the Mesa is plenty loud enough for the bands I play in, and the Vox top boost channel is heaven with a Tele; not sure about the 25 watt dynawatt setting, it is louder, but I think it sounds better at the 15 watt position.

Happy year of the snake Jaberwock

[humfree]

Not a fan of the Neo speakers.. that is where your weight reduction is. I couldn't get my sound without pushing them hard. Others love them.. hope it works for you.

Peace

[JohnnyB]

Not a fan of the Neo speakers.. that is where your weight reduction is. I couldn't get my sound without pushing them hard. Others love them.. hope it works for you.

Peace

A 1x12 Flite cab with conventional speaker weighs14.5 lbs; with neo driver it drops down to 11.5 lbs for a saving of 3 lbs. An empty MojoTone 1x12 cab made of baltic birch and pine weighs 13 lbs., so Flite's constrained layer cabinet accounts for seven of the ten saved pounds.

[jaberwock]

Flite ultra lite speaker cabinets appear to be in deep financial trouble, so I'm going ahead with building my own, I've attached a schematic.

Does anyone have any opinions on how big the opening at the back of the cab should be, Im thinking a 4 inch opening the full width of the cabinet; some open backed cabinets have an oval hole cut

I looked at the Avatar site, they look like a great company, but whilst i agree a 2x12 would sound better, lugging a 65 pound cabinet up two flights of stairs is not something I want to be doing these days.

A Celestion blue would probably sound superior to the century vintage neo, but I'm prepared to make a few small compromises for the sake of portability.

Regards Jaberwock

[JohnnyB]

Does anyone have any opinions on how big the opening at the back of the cab should be, Im thinking a 4 inch opening the full width of the cabinet; some open backed cabinets have an oval hole cut

I looked at the Avatar site, they look like a great company, but whilst i agree a 2x12 would sound better, lugging a 65 pound cabinet up two flights of stairs is not something I want to be doing these days.

A Celestion blue would probably sound superior to the century vintage neo, but I'm prepared to make a few small compromises for the sake of portability.

Regards Jaberwock

I was under the impression--but now I can't find the info--that the foam panels had 1/4" plywood on both sides with the foam core in the middle. Thoughts? Feelings? Impressions?

For the back, I'd go with that 4" slot or thereabouts. A totally open back would sound louder, but the tonal balance would be dominated by midrange without as much bass extension. Without some attenuation of the rear wave, the out-of-phase backwave cancels the lower bass. I have a 1x12 Top Hat combo and it's about a 4" or 5" wide slot at the back with a Celestion Greenback inside. I totally like the tonal balance and bass extension with that.

[jaberwock]

I was under the impression--but now I can't find the info--that the foam panels had 1/4" plywood on both sides with the foam core in the middle. Thoughts? Feelings? Impressions?

The styrene is incredibly rigid, glued to the quarter inch ply sides I can't imagine them vibrating much at all; the main reason for this method was too ease construction, ie the foam panels would be glued from the inside, the only downside I can see is it could be damaged by loose objects within the cabinet, ie speaker cords etc.

I remember hearing that an oval back cutout centered over the speaker yields more bass, which with such a small cabinet could be beneficial....... however saying that the Century neo vintage is not lacking in bass response.

II should be finished this weekend I'll let you know how it sounds. Jaberwock

[JohnnyB]

I really think you'll need the wood/styrofoam/wood sandwich for structural rigidity and for the foam core to act as a constrained layer to dampen panel vibrations. I'm not confident that 1/4" wood is sufficiently strong and rigid to function as cabinet walls. As I understand it the idea is to have two 1/4" thick wood panels provide structural rigidity with a thick foam core in between to dampen out the vibrations you'd normally get from thin wood panels.

[jaberwock]

As I understand it the idea is to have two 1/4" thick wood panels provide structural rigidity with a thick foam core in between to dampen out the vibrations you'd normally get from thin wood panels.

I glued some off cuts of half inch styrene, and quarter inch ply with contact adhesive, the result was amazingly strong, in such a small cabinet I couldn't see it lacking rigidity or having undue resonance

I'll go ahead as per my schematics, and if it does resonate badly, I'll glue some one eight ply panels on the interior, shouldn't add too much to the weight.

Jaberwock