I've been thinking about it

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I am interested in building a 1x12 Retro 30 closed, non-ported, front loaded cab. I intend to use 5/8" MDF because I like the dead sound.

I am trying to figure out what the best dimensions would be based on the Thielle-Small Parameters. I'm trying to use Win ISD but I think I'm screwing something up. First, I am not sure what I should enter for "XMax" or "dia".

I also tried in AJ Sealed Designer, using XMax as the default 6 mm and diameter as the default 30.38 cm. Both Win ISD and AJ Sealed Designer tell me the box should be 3.1 L.

I don't get it. 3.1 L is nothing. If I use a length and width of 34 cm just to give enough space for the baffle, that provides a depth of only 3 cm. It is true, I still have to compensate for the volume for the speaker itself. But essentially, is this telling me the ideal box size is smaller than it is realistically possible to create? Should I then just make it as shallow as I can?

I figure you guys are pros at this - it's what you do for a living - you could probably clarify this for me in far less of the time it would take me.

If someone were to build an "optimal" performance 1x12 (closed, non-ported, front loaded), what volume would you suggest?

Perhaps of some relevance, Celestion says on their site that the Thielle-Small Parameters are of minimal significance for guitar cabs. I'm not exactly sure why, but they suggest that even doubling or halving the size of a cab will have minimal effect. Rather they suggest considering material, dimensions, and porting.

I am not sure I believe this though, because if you compare many cabs with the same speakers but different volume, you can hear the difference greater or smaller volume makes. And anyway, even if it was true, I would rather just build this cab to be as optimal as possible for the Retro 30, since that's what it's for.

Any help will be appreciated.

Also, out of curious, I'm wondering what type of cab was used for the demo tracks on the site - they sound great.

Thanks.

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I've been thinking about it some more. If the point of this is that just about ANY dimensions for the cab will be bigger than the "ideal predicted", then perhaps it makes sense to build the cab based on other factors.

In particular, I have been playing with the free Boxnotes software and thinking it makes sense to design the box so that the internal dimensions create standing waves at locations I think will be best distributed based on the peaks annd valleys in the frequency response of the speaker.

But to do that, I'd need the frequency response of the speaker, which Celestion publishes for their speakers, but you do not seem to for yours.

Do you have frequency response curves on file?

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Tell ya what, I just decided to do a big ol blog on this subject ... so check the blog for the BIG answer.

Quickie: 24"W x 20.5"H x 11"D ... This is a box that does a wonderful job of reproducing and augmenting electric guitar tone.

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Thanks, Vaughn. I'm looking forward to the blog post.

Those look like interesting dimensions for a few reasons:

1) The baffle is surprisingly wide and tall for a 12" speaker. I've heard that having a large baffle can increase coloration of the baffle, though I don't know practically what this means.

2) Depth is almost half the height, which means they might almost resonate or have resonances which are almost multiples of one another, which I thought was bad.

3) Very high internal volume for a 1x12.

I'm really interested to see your whole rationale and what we should be basing our dimensions on to get the most out of your speakers.

Thanks,

Mike

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Check it http://wgs4.com/my-somewhat-unconventional-take-ideal-speaker-cabinet-size