Overhauling Old PA Cabs

[ratchetfps]

I've got an old 4 channel PA system (http://www.zzounds.com/item--SQU0717150000) that I acquired from a friend. This is my "beater" system that I loan out to people and bring to places that I know might be a little dirty.

My friend tried to hot rod the system a while ago with two new piezo tweeters (lol) and two of these bad boys: Eminence Beta-10A 10" Guitar/PA Driver 8 Ohm (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...nce%20Beta-10A)

Now.....he didn't do any crossover work, just dropped them in. I opened up the cab and notice there really isn't much of a crossover...just a paltry little pcb that splits the signal to the tweeter/woofer.

I'm VERY new to the DIY world, but I have a feeling I'm not getting anywhere close to the sound out of these things as I should!! Certainly I could improve performance with a new amp (and hell, maybe even new cabs)....but my question here is about the crossover:

I really like the look of these trapezoidal cabs, and they are VERY durable. I'm hoping to take these to burning man next year, so I'm wondering if you've any thoughts as to how I can take this cheapo PA system to the next level!! Do you think the construction of a superior crossover will do me much good? Should I rip the crappy piezo tweeters out and replace with selenium compression drivers?? If I'm already doing all of this....is it even worth it to do ANYTHING with this old PA system?? Should I just rip out these Eminence drivers and do something else with them??

Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated!!

[ThomasW]

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=150939

[ratchetfps]

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=150939

Wow I didn't realize the econo-waveguide is a compression driver/waveguide project designed to mate with a variety of woofers!! This certainly looks like the way to go, although it sucks that I might end up scrapping every component of the PA system aside from the new 10" woofers....

I'm going to read up on the econo-waveguides....maybe I can still use these rugged cabs!!

[ratchetfps]

Dang, so it looks like with even the smallest waveguide I'll need 6" of height to work with. Unfortunately, these tiny cabs only give me about 4" of height above the woofer.

So far it looks like the best route may be to scrap all traces of the existing PA system and use the eminence drivers on a new e-waveguide project.

Any thoughts on alternatives?

[soundtrek]

If the only drivers you will re-use will be the Eminence Beta 10s you may want to look at some of Bill FitzMaurices designs. He specifically specs only Eminence woofers. I am a DJ myself and am considering building one of his designs. They certainly won't be anything close to Hi-Fi, but there are not many PA cabinets that are.

http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/