Welcome

Forum

Cabinet Builders

AutoTuba and Truck Tuba

David Stereo Floorstander

SLA Home Theatre and PA Mains

Simplexx Easy Build Cabs

TLAH Home Theatre/PA Mains

XF Guitar Cabs

DR200 PA Top

DR250 Bass/Key/PA Cab

DR280 Bass/Key/PA Cabs

DR300 Concert PA Top

Jack 10,12 and 15 Bass/Key/PA Cabs

Omni 12 Fullrange and Omni 12 Tallboy Bass/Key/PA Cab

Omni 15 Fullrange and Omni 15 TallBoy Bass/Key/PA Cabs

OmniTop 8 PA Top

OmniTop 12 PA Top

OmniTop 15 Bass/Key/PA Cab

Tuba 18 Stereo/HT Subwoofer

Tuba 24 Pro-Sound Subwoofer

Tuba 30 and Tuba 45 Pro-Sound Subwoofers

Tuba 60 Pro-Sound Subwoofer

Titan 39 Pro-Sound Subwoofer

Titan 48 Pro-Sound Subwoofer

Table Tuba Stereo/HT Subwoofer

Tuba HT Home Theater Subwoofer

Wedgehorn 6 and Wedgehorn 8 Vocal Floor Monitors

Wedgehorn 10 Full Range Floor Monitor

Panel Jig

How to Order Plans



 

XF Guitar Cabs

Electric guitar speakers are intended to be loud, yet most of them share an incongruous common trait: you can’t hear them. To be more exact, you can’t hear the mids and highs unless you’re directly in front of them- and sitting on the floor. That's because guitar cabs have very narrow dispersion in the mid and high frequencies. To compound matters they’re usually placed on the floor just a few feet in back of the player, so those directional frequencies pass around knee level. Even worse, to ‘look right’ beneath an amplifier that’s 20 to 24 inches wide, dual driver cabs place their drivers horizontally. This narrows the horizontal dispersion angle even more, and causes comb filtering in the highs. In an audio engineering course on how not to build a speaker the typical electric guitar cabinet would be around the top of the list.

The simple solution is to vertically array the drivers, which would widen horizontal dispersion, eliminate combing and put the source closer to the player’s ear level, but the resulting tall, thin cabinet would ‘look funny’ with the amplifier overhanging both sides. Guitar players themselves have never had a problem with looking funny, but they do draw the line when it comes to how their gear looks. Enter Plan ‘B’: the cross-firing XF guitar speaker.

The XF is available as the XF210 for two tens, the XF212 for two twelves, and the four driver XF410 and XF412. The ten inch cabs are 24 inches wide, the twelve inch cabs are 28 inches wide. While many guitar cabs are angled back a few degrees, the XF210 and XF212 have a rear tilt of 15 degrees, while the taller XF410 and XF412 have an 8 degree rear tilt. With that much tilt-back you can actually hear what you're playing, even when you're only a few feet away from the cab. The drivers also cross-fire inward, at a 20 degree angle, shown in the cutaway cab view below.

This minimizes the center to center spacing of the drivers for reduced combing, and widens high frequency horizontal dispersion by up to 40 degrees compared to a flat baffle.

Guitar cabs tend to two varieties, sealed and open back, with most players having a preference to one or the other. To appeal to both camps the XF can be built with a removable rear panel that allows it to be either sealed or open with the flick of a latch.

Construction Degree of Difficulty: 4

Performance Quotient: 9

Equivalent Retail Value: 210 $899, 212 $999, 410 $1299, 412 $1499

Plans are $19.95, delivered within 24 hours as email attachment in MS Word format. 13 pages, 8 photos, 28 diagrams. PDF version available on request. The comprehensive plans show you not only what tools to use but also how to use them.

The XF 210, 212, 410 and 412 are four different projects. Be sure to indicate when ordering which plan you want.

Can’t build your own? Contact the nearest authorized Builder for a quote.