Members Shinbone Posted July 17, 2003 Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 My band is currently running sound thru a pair of Crate 15" 3-way speakers. As you can tell, we really need to upgrade from these. Instead of buying a new pair of cabs, I was thinking maybe we could just upgrade the parts in the Crates. You know...buy better woofers and midrange horns. I have no experience in speaker building, so my question is this. Does this sound like a good idea? Or would I just be wasting my time? Would these things still sound like crap even with nicer speakers in them??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassknave Posted July 17, 2003 Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 It's possible that improved compression drivers with matching lenses might improve your sound somewhat, but it's been my experience that the Crate cabinets are too cheesy (insufficiently rigid with large, unbraced panels and lots of nasty resonances in the passband) to be decent mid-high packs. Changing the woofers may adversely affect the LF response curve. Besides, you'll also need to match the crossovers with the components. It's not cost-effective, and it's unlikely that you'll achieve sufficient improvement. Start over with better boxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shinbone Posted July 17, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 Thanks Bassknave. I really don't know anything about response curves, etc. But I'll take your word for it. I just didn't know how much the cabinet itself affected the sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassknave Posted July 17, 2003 Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 Above 100Hz, the cabinet itself has minimal effect, EXCEPT for resonances in the passband, which will color your sound unpredictably. Below about 100Hz, the cabinet volume and tuning have massive effect on response. It is captive to the electrical and mechanical parameters of the driver used. The slope of the crossover controls driver interaction, and the addition of delay elements can have an effect on the time alignmentand imaging of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted July 17, 2003 Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 Originally posted by Shinbone My band is currently running sound thru a pair of Crate 15" 3-way speakers. As you can tell, we really need to upgrade from these. Instead of buying a new pair of cabs, I was thinking maybe we could just upgrade the parts in the Crates. You know...buy better woofers and midrange horns.I have no experience in speaker building, so my question is this. Does this sound like a good idea? Or would I just be wasting my time? Would these things still sound like crap even with nicer speakers in them??? Which Crate cab is this? Do they have a cone mid and a small horn? Have you opened them up or pulled the drivers to see exactly how bad they are quality-wise? If your only goal is to get better sounding boxes,I would say,don't do it. Get something else. But if part of your goal is to learn something,and if you get enjoyment out of messing with this stuff,go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shinbone Posted July 17, 2003 Author Members Share Posted July 17, 2003 tlbonehead,I don't know the model #. They have a midrange horn and a small round tweeter. Even though they have 15" speakers, the overall sound is kind of on the bright side. Sort of tinny sounding if you know what I mean. I would like something with a little more balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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