Speaker Box Designs 2x10
These Bass Guitar Speakers Box Designs below are my own creation. However,
I have utilized the engineering provided by the manufacture for these systems
(See
BassLightCabinetDesigns.pdf document).
This 2x10 system is the basis for a modular 8x10 system, which is just four of
the 2x10 boxes in a stacked arrangement. My intention here is to emulate the Ampeg
8x10 bass speaker system, which is usually used with the famous SVT bass head. Some of the
original systems had a 32 ohm cabinet, which indicates that the speakers were 4
ohm and likely wired in series. This of course was designed to match the
amplifier's output transformer. Also, the Ampeg speaker cabinet used
Eminence 10 inch woofers, and the cabinet was divided into 4 compartments, with
two 10 inch woofers in each section, which would handle +75watts at the full
output of the amplifier. Each 2x10 compartment was an infinite baffle type
system (i.e. enclosed box, not ported in any way). If you have never
used one of these systems, you have no idea what a great bass system these units are.
They are the Holy Grail for most bass players. Even a "not so great bass"
usually sounds much better on one of these systems. This is due to two
main factors: 1) the all tube amplifier, and 2) the large speaker cone
area. This modular speaker box design of mine gets you half way there!
In my modular design, I have 4 individual cabinets, each with 2x10 systems,
which are wired in parallel for 4 ohms. The approach of my design here is
to provide flexibility and easily transport the system. In contrast, the classic Ampeg system, is quite
large, and requires a van or truck for transporting the speakers, not to mention
that a hand truck is quite handy in moving this unit also. My modular
design, by comparison, can be loaded into a compact vehicle in the back seat,
and moved with two trips, one 2x10 system in each hand. Also, you have the
option of using one, two, three or four of these boxes, depending on your need for
the gig. I have chose the Eminence CA2010 10 inch woofer as the woofer of
choice for my system, in the 8ohm version. This woofer has a power rating
of 150watts, a resonant frequency of 51Hz, and a frequency span of 48hz-7khz.
This is an aluminum cone type woofer, which has extended high frequencies, and
is normally quite punchy. This type of woofer is also the choice of pros
like the late Jaco Pastorious. I also chose to wire the two speakers in
parallel (See Speaker Wiring), which means that
the impedance for the box system is 4 ohms.
The actual design and layout can be downloaded here (2x10_CabinetDesign_Layout.pdf)
in pdf format.
The size of the box which I have chosen, will accommodate both infinite baffle
and vented options. Originally, I have chosen the infinite baffle, for the
tightest sound possible. The design calls for a 1.723 cubic foot
cabinet box for the 2x10 unit. This has an f3 (the start of the low
frequency cut off point) of 88Hz. This particular design also limits the
power of unit (pair of 2x10) to 100watts. So, with four cabinets, you can
drive them with 400watts, which should handle most situations. For this
design, I have chose the following internal dimensions of the speaker box:
Height: 12 inches
Width: 22.5 inches
Depth: 11.0 inches
These dimensions yield a box which has 1.723 cubic feet of volume (1 cu.ft =
1728 cu.inches). Since I made the box 14 inches deep, and I made the
front panel so that it can be removed, I can change the depth of the inside of
the cabinet to accommodate the size needed for a vented cabinet design
modification, which also requires isolation for each woofer, by using a divider between the
woofer pairs, and getting 0.894 cu.ft. for each woofer cabinet, and a f3 of
70hz, but an increased power limit of 125 watts per woofer. If this is done,
you can push 1000 watts (8x125w) of power into this system, and it will rock the
place (you should be able to get 140db of sound at 1 meter from the cabinet, and
with 4
of these systems behind you and 4kw of power (this would yield 151db of sound), you could actually kill yourself
on stage!--hence: "killa-bass"). However, you will likely not have as
tight of a bass sound as you would with the infinite baffle design, but that is
the trade off here--volume of sound v.s. quality of sound.
The infinite baffle option design here requires the inside of the box to
filled full with acoustical dampening material, which reduces standing waves
inside the box. You can purchase this material at places like
www.parts-express.com, or you can use
fiber glass insulation (not the best choice for several reasons), or you can by
cheap pillows at Walmart and take out the stuffing. The latter is what I
chose to use, since the material appears to almost the same as the acoustical
dampening material, but about 1/4 the price.
Below is the 3/4 inch plywood I used for my 2x10 cabinet project, and some left over 10
inch woofers I had laying around, just to get me motivated for this project.
What a beautiful site! The plywood I used here is shop grade which I
bought at Home Depot. One sheet can be laid out for two cabinets. I
did use some extra 1/2 inch plywood scraps to reinforce the corners as you will
see below.

And here is what the cabinets look like during the construction process.


I used quarter round oak at the corners. This is not necessary to do, but
is a preference that I have when making speaker boxes.

Notice below the 1/2 x 1-1/4 inch plywood strips attached to the corners.
I also used liquid nail on the corners to seal and strengthen the joints.
Liquid nail needs to be tooled quickly after being applied.


I used Tight Bond wood glue on all of the joints and glue mating surfaces.
This is a very good glue and it is water proof too. I also used 16 gauge
1-1/2 inch finish nails on the corners, and 16 gauge 1-1/4 nails for the front
panel backing strips below, followed by 1-1/4" drywall screws. The front panel is finally screwed to
these strips. Do not forget to use weather sealing to seal the box before
setting the front panel permanently.


This speaker terminal part below was found at Radio Shack and then modified for
standard 1/4 guitar jack.

Here is what the final product looks like now.

More Designs are coming soon!
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