Posted by Wayne Parham on March 25, 2001 at 02:50:52

In Reply to: Any ideas for good compromise bass guitar speaker? posted by freddyi on March 24, 2001 at 18:31:05:

My first cabinetmaker in the 70's and early 80's is a musician. He played for the band "Local Hero" in the 80's and 90's, becoming quite popular in the national Reggae scene.

For these guys, basshorns or tons of reflex subs were always needed. It's all about the "bulk efficiency" issue you've discussed before. These days, power is available and inexpensive. And when they have to build up and tear down for each gig, size and portability become very important considerations.

But about "small basshorns" - I don't do them. If you go undersized, then response becomes peaky and EQ is required. They're direct radiators at the lowest frequencies anyway, so that sort of makes it a mute point. Midbass horns can be made small, but good quality hornsubs just can't be shoehorned into a small package.