Originally Posted by
Scooter
Scoops belong standing upright; at least that was our concensus in the early 1980s. Our woofer of preference was the 2225, which we typically used with bridged Peavey CS800s or CS 1200s. I think that the clipping LEDs were on more than they were off. We pushed our equipment hard, yet averaged about one recone per year. E140s had punch, but lacked that reverberant depth that we also coveted. The 2225s had a combination of both. Our concerns back then were more quantitative than qualitative--it was the "my woofer has a bigger magnet than your woofer" phase of our lives. We quickly learned after building our first pair of 4520s how solidly these cabinets need to be built. Cabinet integrity was a concern when we pondered scaling the 4520 up by 1/5 for the 2240 or the E155. If a 15 inch model weighed 215 pounds, what would an 18 inch weigh? The carcass had to be 1 inch stock. Extra bracing a must. Door frames could present a problem in non-fixed applications. Nobody wanted to do all the arithmetic either. We did not use calculations much back then, or the JBL technical notes. We did things by "feel". Today, if I had the time, money and location, I would build a pair of 18 inch scoops and load them, preferably, with E155s. 2242s might do well also. There are many more options now. There's something to be said for comparative simplicity.
Forgive the non-technical walk down memory lane. Scoops bring back lots of high SPL memories.
Scott