Avatar SB123 vs LDS 1251 vs Acme Low B-1

L

Little Rock

Aug 23, 2015
213
104
4,531
Montreal, Canada
#1
Hello, TBers!

I am looking for an affordable 3-way cab and the ones listed above are my front runners. I am aware of all the hype about Fearless/Fearful and Barefaced, but they cost at least twice as much.

My primary goal is to have a clear uncolored sound, as hi-fi as possible. Small size and low weight is important, but secondary. Power handling is also secondary, because I play mostly in the bedroom :).

Below is the price estimate and some additional data for each one.

Avatar SB123 (from website)
- $458 shipped to NY state;
- LF driver: 12"`Eminence Delta LF 12 ceramic;
- Mid range driver: 6" closed back by Eminence (Not sure it is a good driver);
- Tweeter: Foster horn;
- Xover: Eminence @ 800Hz/5KHz (I guess it is a non-optimized off-the-shelf);

Acme Low B-1 (from website)
- $525 + $TBD of shipping to NY state (not specified);
- LF driver: 10"`(make and model not specified);
- Mid range driver: 4.5" (make and model not specified);
- Tweeter: 1" shallow horn (make and model not specified);
- Xover: Custom not specified;

LDS 1251 (from e-mail exchange)
- $480 + $60 of shipping to NY state ($540 total);
- LF driver: 12"`Eminence BP122;
- Mid range driver: 5" Dayton Audio;
- Tweeter: Not specified;
- Xover: Custom not specified;

Could You Guys, please, help me to decide, especially if you have experience with at least one of them?
 
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#2
I can't offer a comparison of these, but I do own several LDS cabs (a 15/6, a 12/6, and a 12/12/5). No tweeters in any of them, and all the drivers are Kappalite. Really well built, and Don is an absolute pleasure to work with. I would definitely recommend him to anyone. Looks like you could get a custom build for about the same cost as off-the-shelf... if you have any non-standard features in mind that might be a factor in your decision.
 
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#3
I had an Acme B2 for a while. The low end is HUGE... pillowy rather than punchy (you may prefer either). I found it to not be particularly hifi though as the bottom end really overpowered the mids and highs. I expect that would be less of an issue with the B1 because it only has one woofer. I sold mine because I wanted a more balanced and vocal midrange and punchier lows.

I think you will find that the tweeter adds very little to your sonic picture. There just isn't very much going on up there with your bass. I like the cabs with a lower crossover and a midrange speaker rather than a tweeter. Back to the B2, when I turned the tweeter all the way from one end of the pot range to the other, I heard very little change. To that end, I'd recommend you add the Genzler bass arrays to your consideration. I have the BA12-3 and find the cab to be very nicely balanced all the way up and down the frequency spectrum. The mids are vocal and present while the highs are very smooth. The lows are big and punchy, but again very balanced with everything else. From your description of what you want, I think the BA10-2 would likely meet your ends quite nicely and falls in your price range.

If you're looking at the Avatar or an LDS, I'd consider going with just two speakers - woofer and mid/up - so I'd look at the Avatar 126 and something similar to that from LDS. On the Avatar, I'd choose the lower crossover and maybe the Faital woofer.
 
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#4
cavemanbass said:
I can't offer a comparison of these, but I do own several LDS cabs (a 15/6, a 12/6, and a 12/12/5). No tweeters in any of them, and all the drivers are Kappalite. Really well built, and Don is an absolute pleasure to work with. I would definitely recommend him to anyone. Looks like you could get a custom build for about the same cost as off-the-shelf... if you have any non-standard features in mind that might be a factor in your decision.
Click to expand...
I find Don very responsive, considering how busy he is.

Thank you for your feedback :thumbsup:
 
#5
revroy said:
I had an Acme B2 for a while. The low end is HUGE... pillowy rather than punchy (you may prefer either). I found it to not be particularly hifi though as the bottom end really overpowered the mids and highs. I expect that would be less of an issue with the B1 because it only has one woofer. I sold mine because I wanted a more balanced and vocal midrange and punchier lows.

I think you will find that the tweeter adds very little to your sonic picture. There just isn't very much going on up there with your bass. I like the cabs with a lower crossover and a midrange speaker rather than a tweeter. Back to the B2, when I turned the tweeter all the way from one end of the pot range to the other, I heard very little change. To that end, I'd recommend you add the Genzler bass arrays to your consideration. I have the BA12-3 and find the cab to be very nicely balanced all the way up and down the frequency spectrum. The mids are vocal and present while the highs are very smooth. The lows are big and punchy, but again very balanced with everything else. From your description of what you want, I think the BA10-2 would likely meet your ends quite nicely and falls in your price range.

If you're looking at the Avatar or an LDS, I'd consider going with just two speakers - woofer and mid/up - so I'd look at the Avatar 126 and something similar to that from LDS. On the Avatar, I'd choose the lower crossover and maybe the Faital woofer.
Click to expand...
I really appreciate your feedback on the Acme, because so far, the only bad comment i had heard was about the low sensitivity.
 
#8
revroy said:
I had an Acme B2 for a while. The low end is HUGE... pillowy rather than punchy (you may prefer either). I found it to not be particularly hifi though as the bottom end really overpowered the mids and highs. I expect that would be less of an issue with the B1 because it only has one woofer. I sold mine because I wanted a more balanced and vocal midrange and punchier lows.

I think you will find that the tweeter adds very little to your sonic picture. There just isn't very much going on up there with your bass. I like the cabs with a lower crossover and a midrange speaker rather than a tweeter. Back to the B2, when I turned the tweeter all the way from one end of the pot range to the other, I heard very little change. To that end, I'd recommend you add the Genzler bass arrays to your consideration. I have the BA12-3 and find the cab to be very nicely balanced all the way up and down the frequency spectrum. The mids are vocal and present while the highs are very smooth. The lows are big and punchy, but again very balanced with everything else. From your description of what you want, I think the BA10-2 would likely meet your ends quite nicely and falls in your price range.

If you're looking at the Avatar or an LDS, I'd consider going with just two speakers - woofer and mid/up - so I'd look at the Avatar 126 and something similar to that from LDS. On the Avatar, I'd choose the lower crossover and maybe the Faital woofer.
Click to expand...
It appears that Genz Benz is not making the arrays anymore. It doesn't show on their website.
 
#10
IMG_0007.JPG
I have 2 Genz Benz rigs
A Shuttle 6.0 2x10
Contour 500 2x10
With a 12t Ext cabinet that goes with either one.
 
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#12
From your choices, it seems you don't want to spend much more than $500 or so. You might want to check out the audiokinesis stuff. They look a little strange, but the Hathor 12-3 cab is around $650 and might be worth a look. I've been thinking about either the 1533 cab or the Hathor 212, and the more I look at Duke's price vs performance ability, the less strange they look to me. Still kinda pricey, but much less so than the Genzler array cabs, and the form factor/dimensions of those I just can't get excited about, especially for the price.
 
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#16
Little Rock said:
Hello, TBers!

I am looking for an affordable 3-way cab and the ones listed above are my front runners. I am aware of all the hype about Fearless/Fearful and Barefaced, but they cost at least twice as much.

My primary goal is to have a clear uncolored sound, as hi-fi as possible. Small size and low weight is important, but secondary. Power handling is also secondary, because I play mostly in the bedroom :).

Below is the price estimate and some additional data for each one.

Avatar SB123 (from website)
- $458 shipped to NY state;
- LF driver: 12"`Eminence Delta LF 12 ceramic;
- Mid range driver: 6" closed back by Eminence (Not sure it is a good driver);
- Tweeter: Foster horn;
- Xover: Eminence @ 800Hz/5KHz (I guess it is a non-optimized off-the-shelf);

Acme Low B-1 (from website)
- $525 + $TBD of shipping to NY state (not specified);
- LF driver: 10"`(make and model not specified);
- Mid range driver: 4.5" (make and model not specified);
- Tweeter: 1" shallow horn (make and model not specified);
- Xover: Custom not specified;

LDS 1251 (from e-mail exchange)
- $480 + $60 of shipping to NY state ($540 total);
- LF driver: 12"`Eminence BP122;
- Mid range driver: 5" Dayton Audio;
- Tweeter: Not specified;
- Xover: Custom not specified;

Could You Guys, please, help me to decide, especially if you have experience with at least one of them?
Click to expand...

LDS cabs are absolutely on par with Greenboy/Barefaced; studio monitor-esque clarity, and I was literally asked to turn down when playing a festival stage with a single 15/6 ;)
 
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#19
Admittedly, I don't own one but based on my research here on TB it seems that LDS provides custom options and excellent build quality at a reasonable price. If I were in the market for a 3-way 126 cab I'd consider LDS as a serious contender right up there with the higher priced options like Barefaced and Fearless.

Also, Avatar offers the Kappalite 3012LF as a $70 option in the SB126.
 
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