Suhr Reactive Load Vs Fractal Audio X-Load

[Richard_G]

How suspectible to abuse/mishandling are these things really? Anything to keep an extra eye on when buying used?

 

[Humbug]

How suspectible to abuse/mishandling are these things really? Anything to keep an extra eye on when buying used?

Difficult to give an answer that will cover every case but, generally, they'll either work or they won't. The parts that will probably wear out first are the capacitor(s) and the fan (if there is one). Fan is easy to check, caps failing will probably smell pretty bad and cause the impedance to go funny (no resonant peak, and a severe rise from low mids upward). Catastrophic failure would be through overheating, and I'd expect there to be a lovely fragrance of burnt resistor present outside the box and clear visual signs of toastiness inside.

Did that help? I tried writing before coffee again...

 

[AlbertA]

Here's how my Suhr Reactive load measured:

 

[AlbertA]

I'd be very interested to see the curve of the v-type in a 212 - would you share the result?

I don't think there is a load on the market that matches either of those cabs, though maybe the REact:IR-box can get you there with some digital magic?

Here's how it measured

Attached is also the mdat file from REW (remove the .pdf extension, I only had to do that to attach it here)


And how it compares to the Suhr RL

 

[2dor]

Here's how it measured
View attachment 48680

Attached is also the mdat file from REW (remove the .pdf extension, I only had to do that to attach it here)


And how it compares to the Suhr RL
View attachment 48682

Interesting - is that a ported cab?

 

[AlbertA]

Interesting - is that a ported cab?

No it’s a closed cab.

 

[2dor]

No it’s a closed cab.

Weird. IIRC those 2 resonance peaks in the low end happen when you're dealing with ported cabs or improper sealed enclosures.

 

[Humbug]

Here's how it measured
View attachment 48680

Attached is also the mdat file from REW (remove the .pdf extension, I only had to do that to attach it here)


And how it compares to the Suhr RL
View attachment 48682

Lovely! Thanks!

 

[Humbug]

Weird. IIRC those 2 resonance peaks in the low end happen when you're dealing with ported cabs or improper sealed enclosures.

Might be some screws need tightening, or there was something in front of the cab when the measurement was taken.

 

[Chocol8]

The spike at 150 hz definitely is interesting. Well above what I would expect to see from a closed cab with V types.

 

[Humbug]

Weird. IIRC those 2 resonance peaks in the low end happen when you're dealing with ported cabs or improper sealed enclosures.

In a ported cab you would generally, depending on design, get two quite distinct peaks where the lower one is usually the most severe. Here's a pretty obvious one:

 

[AlbertA]

Might be some screws need tightening, or there was something in front of the cab when the measurement was taken.

I did have a mic in front of it. I'll check the screws on the back cover as well.

 

[Humbug]

The spike at 150 hz definitely is interesting. Well above what I would expect to see from a closed cab with V types.

It's at 140, which doesn't seem unreasonable but I'm not familiar with this speaker and, sadly, have very few 212 cabs in my library of impedance curves to compare it to.

 

[2dor]

In a ported cab you would generally, depending on design, get two quite distinct peaks where the lower one is usually the most severe. Here's a pretty obvious one:View attachment 48713

My ENGL 1x12 is a ported cab and has a lowend bump at about 20Hz or so, lower in magnitude than the one around 100Hz.

 

[AlbertA]

Interesting - is that a ported cab?

It's at 140, which doesn't seem unreasonable but I'm not familiar with this speaker and, sadly, have very few 212 cabs in my library of impedance curves to compare it to.

Looks like it just that the back cover is pretty flimsy - the whole cabinet is not that rigid and I'm sure there are plenty of air leaks: https://thegearforum.com/threads/na...s-2x12-archon-stealth.9275/page-2#post-391011

 

[Humbug]

Looks like it just that the back cover is pretty flimsy - the whole cabinet is not that rigid and I'm sure there are plenty of air leaks: https://thegearforum.com/threads/na...s-2x12-archon-stealth.9275/page-2#post-391011

Oh, that's interesting! It would seem to be by design. Does it sound good?

...there's no way to (accurately) replicate that in a load box btw

 

[Mikael Dez]

Looks like it just that the back cover is pretty flimsy - the whole cabinet is not that rigid and I'm sure there are plenty of air leaks: https://thegearforum.com/threads/na...s-2x12-archon-stealth.9275/page-2#post-391011

You want your cab to be made of plywood - cheap cabs are made of like MDF. Kitchen cabinets are made of plywood for a reason - it’s a sturdy, strong material. How is the cab not rigid?

 

[Humbug]

You want your cab to be made of plywood - cheap cabs are made of like MDF. Kitchen cabinets are made of plywood for a reason - it’s a sturdy, strong material. How is the cab not rigid?

Oh, no, not the tonewood discussion...
There are reasons for not wanting a completely stiff cabinet, but I don't know if they apply in this case. If it sounds good it was probably intentional.

 

[AlbertA]

You want your cab to be made of plywood - cheap cabs are made of like MDF. Kitchen cabinets are made of plywood for a reason - it’s a sturdy, strong material. How is the cab not rigid?

Just comparing the "give" on the back cover, sides and top vs say my Atomic CLRs.

It's fine really, it's a guitar speaker cabinet after all - just slap a box together with some drivers and call it a day .

Oh, that's interesting! It would seem to be by design.

I think design in the world of guitar speaker cabinets is probably a bit of a stretch

Does it sound good?

I do like the tones coming out of it

 

[Humbug]

I think design in the world of guitar speaker cabinets is probably a bit of a stretch

Fair enough