Rear vs. front loaded cabinet

[DavidC]

Hi folks!


Whats the technical difference between the front and rear loaded cabinets?

[jaysg]

You're going to get more zing off of the front loaded cabinet. Speakers that exhibit a bit of cone cry should be rear loaded. Think V30. Late breakup, ~flat speakers like EVs are supposed to be front loaded. In the end, it's up to your ears. For lighter weight speakers, you only need 4 lugs, so you could install T-nut both ways. You have to counter-sink the interior set. Typically, the rear loaded cutout is a smaller diameter than what you need for front loading, so there are comprimises in all directions.

[BTF]

My 2X12 cabinet has one front-loaded and one rear-loaded speaker. The idea (valid or not) is that the rear-loaded speaker drives the speaker baffle for more bass and "oomph", while the front-loaded speaker gives more clarity. While I can't say that mixing the loads resulted in an earth-shattering difference, I definitely won't go back.

[DavidC]

Thank you very much for the knowledge folks, but it still doesnt answer my question.

I just want to know what are the technical differences (speakers position, measures, etc.) between front and rear loaded speakers.

[Structo]

I have wondered before if there is an audible difference between front and rear loaded cabs.

The Lopoline 2 x12 I have is front loading.

I didn't care for the way my EVM 12L's sounded in that.

They sound much better in the VOX 2 x 12 which is a bigger box and rear loading.
I may make a new back for it with an oval port to see how that effects the tone.

[solderstain]

...so you could install T-nut both ways.

I've had that passing thought in the past... have you ever done that? What trick did you use to make sure the t-nuts line up? The t-nuts have to line up perfectly when they're seated in the wood or the screws won't go through both. Or did you use short screws that only penetrated the nuts on one side of the wood at a time? Technically, the screws don't have to penetrate both - as long as you have full thread-engagement through ONE t-nut, anything else is essentially 'wasted', but it would still be interesting to hear if you have some cool trick.

[Dr-Joned]

You would drill the normal 8 holes in the wood. Position # 1, 3, 5, 7 from the front and 2, 4, 6, 8 from the back. That would give you the flexability that you want.

[jaysg]

You would drill the normal 8 holes in the wood. Position # 1, 3, 5, 7 from the front and 2, 4, 6, 8 from the back. That would give you the flexability that you want.

That's all it is. I do use 8-32 bolts, when 10-32 is probably the best. I'm not perfect at lining things up + the exact diameter is a little different from brand to brand. Iirc, Celestion and Eminence don't swap easily, but Celestion and Weber do. I have a plunge router I used to countersink the T-nuts.