Super cool theremin speaker cabinet?

I happened across Electrocabs (http://www.electrosonicamplifiers.com/electrocab.php) the other day and fell in love with their styling. Very Jetsons. I thought they might look great with a Moog theremin.

They're mainly custom guitar amp makers and use Weber speakers. However, I talked with Weber recently about theremins and their opinion was the High Power California 12" (https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/) might make a good, clean, "full range" theremin speaker, which you could have put in an Electrocab.

The question is.. Do you really want a "good clean [b]full range[/b] speaker" for Moog EW?

If you want it to sound like an RCA, I suspect one wants a speaker which damps the mid-high frequencies.. certainly not anything remotely approaching a flat response..

But ignore me - I'm just being heretical for the hell of it! ;-)

That is the question.

Of course no single speaker is going to be full range with a flat response. They will all roll of the highs to some extent (I'm convinced there is a sweet spot for theremin somewhere).

I did like they're philosophy (http://www.electrosonicamplifiers.com/faq.php#ecab) regarding speakers and wood being part of an electronic instruments sound. You can find Reid Welch talking about something similar here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpMLYI0XG0A) at about minute two in the video.

It has always amazed me how instrument makers will give all kinds of thought regarding the kinds of wood used in the instrument and its affect on the sound (I'm talking mainly about guitars since violins, etc... don't need speakers),
yet no one seems to think about the different types of wood used in the actual sound producing device, the speaker.

I recently used a 12" Jensen Mod 12-50 as a replacement for the internal speaker of my Hammond M3. I tried this particular speaker because some spoke of it as a "transparent" or "clean" speaker and it seemed to have a pretty wide frequency response (and it was affordable). It tried my E-Standard through it and it sounded pretty darn good although not quite right. It needed a little more of the high frequencys and was perhaps too "smooth". However, I did notice that a Hammond M3 looks kind of like an RCA Radiola speaker (the one that came with the original theremin) turned on it's side with a keyboard attached.

Basically , I'm thinking a high quality speaker with a bunch of fine wood vibrating around it would help "warm" a solid state theremins sound (a solid, clean, no crazy guitar distortion, tube amp wouldn't hurt either).

How wide a range and and how clean would be the question (a matter of taste I guess). Since I don't have a couple of Radiolas lying about I just try to think of what might sound good.

I was picturing one of those cabs finished to match an E-Pro, instant future-retro.

Anyway, enough babbling for now.

Those are some might weird speaker cabs! They do look very "Jetsons"-ish.

Don

Btw ... the object of the cabinet is NOT to rattle. Cement would be ideal, but not so portable!

Don

As I see it, it is the waveform/s which actually get 'into' the listeners ears which is what really matters..

How we arrive at what gets to our ears is, I think, probably not too important - If we have speakers which give a particular coloration to a 'raw' electronic signal, or whether we 'color' a 'raw' electronic signal and drive this into a 'flat' speaker should result in the same sound being heard (or similar.. we probably actually never hear exactly the same sound more than once.. a slight change in head position will alter all the phase relationships and therefore alter what we hear).

With modern equipment, it should be easier to standardise so that the same sound is heard from the same electronic musical instruments.. If we have a modern Theremin which outputs a signal that, when played through a modern (flat) amplifier/speaker, sounds like a RCA played through it original reproduction equipment, Then this instrument should sound like a RCA when played through any other modern (flat) amplifier/speaker.

Ho Hum.. BUT - Is this what we REALLY want? Do we really want a load of identically sounding RCA clones? Will we (if we get this) just end up even more frustrated because none* of us can ever make our Theremins sound like Lev or Clara or any of those great players did? (*Apart from those few masters who can get "that sound" from almost any Theremin today)..

Are we better off just choosing "non standard" equipment which suits our particular preferences, believing we sound like Clara on an RCA (despite this being patently false to everyone else) and just enjoying ourselves?

The answer my friend.... is blowing in the Aether. ;-)

Yes, when it comes down to it, it really is just a matter of taste.

All this speaker talk is just me thinking out loud trying to create an interesting speaker for myself, throwing thoughts against the wall to see what sticks (maybe mixed in with the clutter there is a good idea that someone out there could use on they're quest).