Best cabinet for heavy bass music

jngggggggg wrote: current plan is a 3 way system (ie: tweeters, low/upper mid range, bass) so i dont plan on having kick-bins (unless i upgrade in the future)

  3 way reflex system can do it all really with the correct drivers, it's a blank canvas that can sound like anything you want with simple EQ adjustments. I have a system with dual 18 subs under dual 15+2" tops, the 15s are proper low/mid drivers with no meaningful output below 70hz and the 2" driver is a nice B&C unit. This system covers the whole spectrum with authority, bass guitar sounds fat yet vocals are clear and it even has good high end.. no probably not quite as much sparkle up there as some super tweeters  would deliver but it's impressive what can be done with the parametric EQs in a processor like the DCX. If the tops were 12's instead the low/mids wouldn't have quite as much weight but it wouldn't be too shabby either, unless you compared it to a system with 15s side by side you wouldn't think you were missing anything and the 12's could be much smaller and easier to move. My dual 15s weigh 150lbs dues to a stack of ceramic magnet drivers inside and 44" tall baltic birch cabs, swap in neo drivers and that would drop to almost half the weight, and the cab can be smaller and lighter if smaller drivers are used too. But if you drop down to 10" mids then you'll likely miss some low/mid and want kick bins, so bottom line is design it as a complete system to start and you won't be disappointed.
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jngggggggg wrote: would having subs tuned to this specification limit its ability to produce higher-freq bass as well?

  No. Again this is another benefit of reflex cab, if the drivers can do it there is nothing stopping you from running the 18's up into midrange frequencies if you have to, but you shouldn't have to with the correct mid drivers .

jngggggggg wrote: current plan is a 3 way system (ie: tweeters, low/upper mid range, bass) so i dont plan on having kick-bins (unless i upgrade in the future)

  3 way reflex system can do it all really with the correct drivers, it's a blank canvas that can sound like anything you want with simple EQ adjustments. I have a system with dual 18 subs under dual 15+2" tops, the 15s are proper low/mid drivers with no meaningful output below 70hz and the 2" driver is a nice B&C unit. This system covers the whole spectrum with authority, bass guitar sounds fat yet vocals are clear and it even has good high end.. no probably not quite as much sparkle up there as some super tweeters  would deliver but it's impressive what can be done with the parametric EQs in a processor like the DCX. If the tops were 12's instead the low/mids wouldn't have quite as much weight but it wouldn't be too shabby either, unless you compared it to a system with 15s side by side you wouldn't think you were missing anything and the 12's could be much smaller and easier to move. My dual 15s weigh 150lbs dues to a stack of ceramic magnet drivers inside and 44" tall baltic birch cabs, swap in neo drivers and that would drop to almost half the weight, and the cab can be smaller and lighter if smaller drivers are used too. But if you drop down to 10" mids then you'll likely miss some low/mid and want kick bins, so bottom line is design it as a complete system to start and you won't be disappointed.


Edited by Conanski - 03 May 2017 at 2:08am

You say you play dub and reggae, are you therefore intending on putting vocals through those 18's? Just curious as to how well the reflex will cover sub, mid bass n vocals with an 18.

Edited by SouthwestCNC - 02 May 2017 at 10:17am

I made a design around the BMS 18n862. My design goal was to have a compact box that goes low. So obviously effeciency is sacrificed (meaning that you need a big amp to drive it).
The design needs a 6 dB boost at 28,5hz Q2 to play as intended.
The Idea behind this was to have a compact speaker for smallish gigs, till 200 people. And to make double 18 inch 500l cabinets for the same speaker if i need to use the full potential of the drivers.

It's not yet build and tested as funds don't allow it :-)
http://forum.speakerplans.com/the-singing-canary-sub_topic96721.html

He's asking about very low frequency reproduction and had expressly asked about the BMS. I've no experience with this driver, but I've indicated the resources and an approach to take.

By all means feel free to contribute constructive criticism, particular given the presumed experience and woodwork skills of the OP

jngggggggg wrote: however, i do not have any cab designing software or knowledge at all. are there any free-plans that pair well w/ this driver for my needs? or is it more complicated than that?

The joy of reflex is a much simpler design process.
Key variables are nett internal volume (internal airspace of cabinet, remembering to exclude driver, port & bracing volumes) and the dimensions (length+cross sectional area) of the port(s).   BMS give a suggested tuning on the pdf data sheet for this driver:

Cabinet 153 litres, round port 200mm diameter & 601mm length, for a tuning frequency of 28.5hz.

This is a good frequency to tune a driver capable of reproducing lower frequencies (20hz at -3db) and is a little above the speakers resonant frequency (it's a rule of thumb to tune port frequency to 1.07 times speaker resonance, this is a little more) as the port output will augment driver output for about a third of an octave below tuning frequency, as well as an octave or so above.

Of course, you could tune a different size box or use different port dimensions to achieve this tuning, or try to.lower it even - play around with an online port calculator. Bigger boxes go lower easier, smaller ports chuff at high output - again, you can use online resources to simulate this, but you've got a fair bit of leeway, I'd guess anything between 125 & 300 litres would be doable.

To give you an idea of dimensions, a 153 litre internal box would be about 5.2cubic feet internally, or about 3' x 2' x 1' externally.

Edited by I-shen Soundboy - 28 April 2017 at 9:16pm