October 30, 2007

Eminence Wizards in my Avatar Cab

The Avatar cabinet I bought used had Celestion Seventy-80 speakers in it. Sounded okay I guess, but I have found the bass response not quite as I like it. I have heard a lot of good comments about the Red Coat Eminence speakers. The Eminence Wizard seemed just like what I need. Needless to say - I now have a pair of Wizards, they are 16 ohm speakers wired in parallel to 8 ohms.

I have read the Wizard is a efficient speaker with a British flavour. It should fit my style of music that I play.

Last night, I took my Avatar cab apart. I unscrewed the back (lots of screws used) and the Celestions were sitting there waiting to be tossed out for something new and red.

I needed to take off the front grill cloth in order to unscrew the screws that holds the speakers. For a moment I was thinking "how the heck do I get the grill cloth off"? Trying to bend it off was to no avail. So after that Blonde Moment, I realized the grill cloth was fastened by screws from the inside of the cab 6 of them, in fact.

I took off the grill cloth, heated up my soldering iron, removed the Celestions and put the Wizards in. I had to print out a schematic of how to connect these 16 ohm speakers in parallel in order for it to be 8 ohms. I need them to be 8 ohms, since my 18 watt head will soon be here, and it is designed for an 8 ohm load. I am not a very talented modding guy - I just read instructions and try not to screw up things. I think I got it right this time though... :)

After finishing the soldering job, I screwed everything back together and it was ready to be tested. I wanted to play this thing loud of course (!), but by now it was 10:30 and everyone in the house were going to bed.

I did hook it up to my Reverend Hellhound for just a few minutes anyway, at very low volume. Even so, I immediately noticed a very clear and articulate tone. I have the feeling these speakers may also be louder.

In the end, the installation went really well, and I can't wait to crank up the volume and give these Eminence Wizard speakers a chance to show me what they can do!

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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Posted by Robert Renman on October 30, 2007