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Need advice on replacement 15" speaker for bass cab


Gillotine

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Current set up is GK 1001RB run through Hartke 410XL & a Peavey Headliner 115. The Headliner's speaker is non-working. I would like to replace the speaker with something better than the original. And if you are going to try and tell me not to have mismatched cabs, stop right now, I already went through that whole ordeal. The GK is 700W. Should I try to match the wattage of the Hartke or doesn't that matter? Thanks in advance!

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Ideally, you should look for something that matches the cab. A given speaker works best in a cab of a particular volume. Using a Thiele/Small calculator is a good idea. I like this one: http://www.micka.de/org/en/. Plug in the parameters of various speakers and the dimensions of your cab and port and see what produces a good curve. As for power handling, you're going to be hard pressed to find a single speaker that will handle 700 Watts but fortunately the Wattage will be split between the cabs so assume 350 Watts to be safe. Finally, you need to consider your budget. Get the best you can afford that will handle your amp and work in your cab.

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I'm not a fan of mismatched cabs, but this isn't about me.

 

In general, amplifier power can be up to twice speaker power handling, and not be a problem, so keep that in mind.

 

I have no idea about the volume or tuning of the Peavey Headliner 115, so I can't make specific suggestions. If you could make some measurements of the cabinet and port (I assume there is one), I could be more specific, and I imagine that others could be, too.

 

For high power handling, there's always the Eminence Kilomax line. How it would sound in your cabinet I have no idea.

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The cab comes stock with a 15" Sheffield® bass woofer.

It boasts 1000W peak, 500W Program, 250W RMS. (RMS is all that matters, the other numbers are marketing gimmicks) It got a good frequency range of 50 to 4K hz and a fairly high SPL of 96db.

 

You can buy an exact replacement for $67 new which is an incredible price on a decent bass woofer. http://www.proaudiosupply.com/Peavey...er-p/57588.htm

 

That's probably the best option, not only because the price is great, but you don't have to worry about matching all the other parameters important to getting the right bass tones from a ported cab.

 

Not sure what your other cabs RMS rating is but since the 15 blew out the head is likely too powerful for the 250W 15" You may want to go with a higher wattage speaker.

 

The problem is finding a higher wattage 15" with a similar frequency response.

 

This one has similar specs but its only good up to 2Khz. you do have 10's for the highs and mids, but the 15" cab will sound bassy in comparison to the original speaker.

 

http://www.spectrumaudio.com/peavey-560060-15-8-ohm-woofer/?gclid=COaQgNaLtccCFQEaaQodvjUKmg

 

Eminance makes some higher wattage wide range 15's. This ones very close and has an extra 50W.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BETA15A?adpos=1o5&creative=55686218521&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CPrEvKyMtccCFQ-maQod9AYPJg

 

Celestions aren't bed either. I have a pair of these which Celestion made for Trace Elliot amps.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/T5627

 

If you want to go lighter, you may want to consider a Neo. The SPL and Frequency response aren't as good as the stock speaker, but the wattage is higher. You could drive it louder safely, but your 10's are going to sound louder in comparison. if the 10's were lower in comparison to the stock 15 then having a lower SPL 15 might work. If the 10's were louder then getting a higher SPL 15" is advised. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/T5623

 

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If I were just going toss one cabinet on the same amp as another mis-matched cabinet, I would be more concerned with sensitivity ratings. That would be sensitivity of the cabinet as a whole device rather than the individual speakers. Even if I had deep pockets and could afford to try an endless number of drivers in a quest for something that sorta works, the first thing I would do is buy an OEM replacement to see what it was designed to sound like. You know, after they spent countless hours designing and modeling to design it at the factory? Especially at that price. Sure it's economics vs performance, but it will give you a base line for comparison. Then if you still feel the need, start dropping coin on drivers. It's the internet. With a little luck, you'll find somebody who has replaced the driver in the same exact cab you have and been successful. Even that is subjective. Anything else is a crap shoot, though.

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Yeah, I don't see a problem here...the original driver is capable of handling half the 540w output of the G-K. The OP needs to define "better" in his quest. Finding a good TS match to the cabinet, and then deciding whether the resulting sound is "better" is a guessing game. There's no way any of us can determine this. How much experimentation are you willing to make for a 15" bass cabinet?

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I like JBL as replacement speakers in many cabs. I have two of them at the moment. One in a Sunn cab and one in another cab. You can get great buys on re-coned JBL's too. I love the rock solid teeth rattling tones they produce. They don't mush out like allot of other speakers and thay retain their tone over long distances. The tight sounding speakers have excellent touch sensitivity for the bass. I've used then side by side with Eminance speakers and there's really no comparison. http://www.ebay.com/itm/JBL-E140-8-15-Bass-Guitar-Speaker-8-Ohm-CSL-52921-/361358491502

 

I used to use a pair of these Altecs in my Ampeg rig when I used to tour the NE circuit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-altec-Lansing-15-inch-bass-speakers-/141746822646?hash=item2100c4ddf6 I'd run the V4B head on #3 in a 2000 seat club and the sound man had a hard time matching me with a 3000W PA system. Its pretty amazing how many of these SS bass heads boast 1000W yet they don't even have the muscle to match a vintage 100W tube amp.

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Yeah' date=' I don't see a problem here...the original driver is capable of handling half the 540w output of the G-K. The OP needs to define "better" in his quest. Finding a good TS match to the cabinet, and then deciding whether the resulting sound is "better" is a guessing game. There's no way any of us can determine this. How much experimentation are you willing to make for a 15" bass cabinet?[/quote']

The Headliner 115 is listed by Peavey as a budget cab: http://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/811/117419/Headliner™ 115. It stands to reason that they cut corners somewhere. If the original driver blew (and we only know it's "non-working," there could conceivably be a wiring problem for all any of us know), then it isn't capable of handling half the power of the G-K, and makes sense to go with something "better," at least in terms of power handling. Plugging specs into a TS calculator costs nothing except time. The Hartke 410XL cab has a sensitivity spec of 98dB so it should be possible to narrow it down to 15's with the same or similar sensitivity and find a reasonable match: http://www.samsontech.com/hartke/products/cabinets/xl-cabinets/410xl/.

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The Headliner 115 is listed by Peavey as a budget cab: http://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/811/117419/Headliner™ 115. It stands to reason that they cut corners somewhere. If the original driver blew (and we only know it's "non-working," there could conceivably be a wiring problem for all any of us know), then it isn't capable of handling half the power of the G-K, and makes sense to go with something "better," at least in terms of power handling. Plugging specs into a TS calculator costs nothing except time. The Hartke 410XL cab has a sensitivity spec of 98dB so it should be possible to narrow it down to 15's with the same or similar sensitivity and find a reasonable match: http://www.samsontech.com/hartke/products/cabinets/xl-cabinets/410xl/.

 

The 15" Sheffield driver will easily handle 270 watts of bass guitar. We've got nothing but speculation on the rest. If he puts an original driver back in, it'll work as designed. If he starts screwing around with other drivers, who knows what he'll wind up with

 

It makes little sense to "upgrade" a low cost box on pure speculation. If you want a better bass cabinet, wouldn't it make sense to try some actual existing cabinets to find one you like? A good driver in the wrong good box still sounds bad. Let the manufacturers do the experimenting for you.

 

 

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