Re: 2x12 vs 4x12
Your tone is FAR from out of line. You're doing quite well at articulating what I believe you to be pointing out.
Please do not construe my disagreement with your opinion and/or experience as disrespect.
I build two 2x12 sealed cabinets with the same internal dimensions and space with the same speakers wired in parallel. Then I wire them in series. The I stack them directly on top of each other with the same head. They're going to sound the same as a 4x12 sealed cabinet.
In this instance you're referring to a "coupling effect" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupling_(physics)) of the speakers in close proximity creating a "bigger" sound than if you were to have the speaker cabs seperated. Will it sound "bigger" and "deeper" than a 2x12 on its own? More than likely. Will it sound "just like" a comparable 4x12? Most likely not.
It's not just a shared chamber of internal air volume, it's not just a shared continious sides back and baffle of wood. The coupling effect does play into it- as does the construction of the cabs, but it's not solely the coupling effect.
I do agree that you need to listen with your ears and make the decision based on your needs and what you like.
I own a wonderfully constructed 2x12 cab with some cool speakers in it. I've played around with it with everything short of creating a port and/or replacing wood. It's not a 4x12. It doesn't respond the same. When I use that cab and it's mic'ed through the PA the audience may never notice the difference, but as far as stage sound- it's unsatisfying to me.
I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE for that 2x12 to deliver what my 4x12 does. It just doesn't.
...the piston action of 4 speakers moving twice as much air in a sealed cabinet twice the size will sound the same as two cabinets with the same speakers and roughly half the volume. My ears told me the same thing when I built such cabinets. I realize that physics and math exist but just need more than that to be convinced. What rules? Etc. But I won't drag this out ...
My only advice to original question posted is two 2x12s will not disappoint you ... in my experience.
What I'm attempting to get at is that you can't accept some aspects of the physics of cabinet building and ignore others and claim them to be "myths." Although this is going WAY beyond what the original poster had envisioned with this- Two seperate cabinets, even in direct contact will not, and can not sound like the same speaker configuration in one cab. Even seperating the air space in one cab with a shared back and sides considerably changes the character of the cab. Find an SWR Megoliath cab and an Ampeg SVT 8x10. They're similarly constructed- however the Megoliath cab is split in half. The airspace between the top 4 speakers and the bottom 4 speakers are seperated- allowing for the cab to be used as two indedpendent cabs, or as all 8 speakers to be used together. They're not the same cab with a piece of plywood as a "diaphragm."
In fact, I just thought of this, unscrew the screw on the center post of a 4x12 and see how that changes the tone of the cab... If it's just a matter of 4 12" speakers pushing x amount of air at x volume in a sealed cab, there shouldn't be any change in the tone of the cab- correct? If the cab (the back+sides) have no other function other than to create the "box" for the air- the sound should remain the same- correct?
As far as 2+2x12 cabs not disappointing... the issue is between a 4x12 and 2x12.
