SPEAKERS IN TIMBER CABINETS vs SPEAKERS IN PLASTIC CABINETS

The following notes are NOT just our personal opinion. We consulted several industry experts as well - so don't just take our word for all this, ring a professional speaker builder and repairer such as Total Recoil in Thornbury on 9480-2466. Speak to Boyd, the owner of the business, who has actually won prizes for his speaker designs at various Hi-Fi and Pro-Audio expos, and ask him about the HUGE differences between the sound put out by speakers in PLASTIC boxes compared with similarly powered speakers in properly tuned and vented TIMBER boxes.

Similarly you could ring other sound engineers like Ian Rumbold at Sound Developments in Fitzroy who would tell you EXACTLY the same thing. We also spoke to Jeff Drabik the owner of JD's Sound & Lighting in Sunshine, which is a large supplier of sound and lighting equipment to many Melbourne disco operators - not just to mobile discos but also to pubs and nightclubs. We also consulted legendary Melbourne DJs like Les Toth who is currently working at Q Bar on Fridays and who is a 26/27 year veteran of the Melbourne nightclub scene - former resident DJ at Chevron, Metro, Warehouse, Inflation, Twister and much more. ALL of these VERY EXPERIENCED industry people agreed that timber cabinets produce a FAR SUPERIOR sound - deeper bass, richer warmer vocals etc - so purely in the interest of the success or failure of your own function, please read on as we compare speakers in plastic cabinets against speakers in timber cabinets.(sourcing from: Plastic Cabinet Speaker )

Our EV 1503 cabinets (pictured above) are quite heavy. They are also quite large - so it is fairly hard work for our DJs to carry them around. These EV1503s are almost 90cm high, 65cm wide, 45cm deep and actually weigh 42kg. By comparison, EV also produce a similarly powered PLASTIC speaker the EVSX300, which only weighs 18 kg, and is only 59cm high, 43cm wide and 31cm deep. So these plastic SX300 speakers are not even HALF the weight of the 1503s and they are SUBSTANTIALLY smaller.
Partly for those reasons (their much lower weight and their substantially smaller size) lots of other Melbourne disco companies have now STOPPED using speakers in timber cabinets (such as our 1503s) and have started using speakers in PLASTIC cabinets (like the SX300s), because not only are they so much smaller, but as we have just noted, they are also very much lighter than similarly power-rated timber cabinets - 42kg vs only 18kg. Naturally this makes life a LOT easier for DJs because firstly, being so much smaller and lighter, plastic speakers will fit into much smaller vehicles and secondly they are much easier for DJs to carry into venues. And thirdly all plastic speakers have a built-in amplifier module, so DJs using plastic speakers don't have to transport a separate amplifier in their vehicles OR make an extra trip to carry it into the venues like our DJs do.
Unfortunately however, plastic speakers are just NOT PHYSICALLY CAPABLE of reproducing ANYTHING LIKE the same depth of bass or the same rich, warm mid-range tones in the vocals and melody that speakers in timber cabinets reproduce. In a timber cabinet two important factors create proper reproduction of the bass and lower mids - firstly the size of the boxes (and therefore the amount of air-space inside them) plus the actual timber itself, and the weight of that timber. That's why plastic speakers are such a poor compromise - firstly, being so much smaller, they have very little internal air-space and secondly there is no heavy timber to create the bass resonance and warm lower mids, only a lightweight plastic casing.
Because the bass and lower mid-range response in plastic cabinets is so poor, consequently the higher mid-range and other top-end sounds totally overpower the bottom-end and lower mid-range sounds - which therefore produces a very harsh, hard and flat sound totally lacking any warmth or depth. Those factors actually make plastic speakers great as a PA for making announcements on in school halls, or in factories, or at sporting events etc, but those very same factors also make them absolutely horrible for good reproduction of any form of recorded music.
Basically, disco companies using plastic speakers REALLY ARE MAKING A HUGE COMPROMISE ON SOUND QUALITY, but they seem to be quite happy to do it for the convenience factors already mentioned above, ALTHOUGH they are not just doing it for those convenience reasons alone, they are also doing it for FAIRLY SUBSTANTIAL ECONOMIC REASONS. As we already noted above, those convenience reasons are that plastic speakers are smaller, lighter, and the DJs don't have to carry a separate amplifier. But in addition to these three convenience reasons, BY FAR THE BIGGEST REASON why many companies are now using plastic speakers is because then they will save from $1,800 to $3,000 per system by not having to purchase separate amplifiers. THAT'S WHY lots of companies are using plastic speakers - to hell with the quality of the sound! That's the very LAST thing they are concerned about. It's all about their own convenience but even more than that, it's about the THOUSANDS of dollars they can save.
However we absolutely REFUSE to compromise on our sound quality, so we will NEVER EVER make the switch to using speakers in plastic cabinets like so many other companies are now doing. As we said above, don't just take our word for all this, ring a professional speaker builder and repairer such as Total Recoil in Thornbury on 9480-2466. Speak to Boyd, the owner of the business, who has actually won prizes for his speaker designs at various Hi-Fi and Pro-Audio expos, and ask him about the HUGE differences between the sound put out by speakers in plastic boxes compared with similarly powered speakers in properly tuned and vented timber cabinets. Similarly you could ring other sound engineers like Ian Rumbold at Sound Developments in Fitzroy who would tell you EXACTLY the same thing.
PLASTIC SPEAKERS ARE ONLY SUITABLE FOR PA SYSTEMS OR FOR ACOUSTIC ACTS ETC WHO DON'T USE DRUMS OR BASS GUITARS - since they are both situations where good deep bass response is totally unnecessary.Those uses (for PAs & acoustic acts) were SPECIFICALLY what plastic speakers were made for.
http://www.himfr.com/buy-Plastic_Cabinet_Speaker/