What is a TL806 style cabinet, you ask?
by Mark ~ April 5th, 2008. Filed under: Speakers.
Electro-Voice Professional Sound Reinforcement Products used to provide Builder’s Plans for a series of speaker cabinets called the “TL Series Low-Frequency Loudspeaker Systems.”
The TL806 was a small ported cabinet designed specifically for the EVM12L:
The Electro-Voice TL806 low frequency loudspeaker system is a vented-box (bass-reflex) design with gross internal volume of 1.3 cu. ft. The system has been designed for use with the Electro-Voice EVM12L 12 inch loudspeaker.
Recently many people have discovered what a nice job this cabinet did to complement the driver (speaker) and that the cabinet works very well with a wide range of other guitar speakers. It is a nice bonus that the cabinet can be easily made from 3/4″ plywood, 2 1/2″ x 3/4″ strapping material, brads/staples and glue in a simple home shop.
The cabinet’s outside dimensions were: 14 1/2″ wide by 17 3/4″ high by 13 1/2″ deep. The design was carefully crafted to just barely clear the mounting dimensions of a 12 inch driver (front mounted).
When I went to build a couple of these I scaled the height so that a standard Dumble-like head could be perched upon a couple of speaker cabinets lying on their side (see photo). I believe that Brian’s test results are based on cabinets close to the original dimensions, but with an internal construction that doesn’t rely on strapping.
If you are interested in these cabinets the original builders plans are archived by Telex, here. I’ve uploaded the TL806 for your convenience: TL806 Builder’s Plan.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Great site! I’ve got three gear addicted co-workers (especially amps) that will be happy to hear about this one.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:26 am
You legend! I’m about to build a couple of cabs right now. The TL806 plans confirms a number of design choices, and answers a couple a measurement issues working off imprecise photographs.
March 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
What a great site! I bought a 1980’s solid oak ‘Pearce’ G1 cabinet complete with dove-tails and a circular, tuned port. It has a closed back. It’s loaded with an EVM 12L speaker. It is ultimately musical. My question is.. does this cab conform to proper Theile-small parameters? Any help would be greatly appreciated. LeBurn Maddox
June 29th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Nice site, I have just made three dumble amps and they are identical to H.A.Dunble amps with the roben ford mods, I gave then to various artists to try and oh boy there is no difference in sound apart from the price against a real dumble.
Barry
May 4th, 2010 at 7:44 am
G’day, It’s nice to stumble upon a good site like this one. Do you mind if I use some of the information here, and I’ll leave a link back to your website?
August 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
How did you scale the height? Did you make it with a little less depth, or did you simply add a few inches to the height?
September 1st, 2013 at 10:15 am
Hi, I built four TL806s (1-JBL, 2-Celestion 30s, 1-Celestion 80), and mounted 7″ horn tweeters in the ports, crossed over 1st order @ 5000Hz. Great, tight sounding, and tons of power and bass when using one(16 ohms), two(8), or all four(4). I’m only driving them with a 10W (hot-rodded) Brian May VBM1 Vox guitar amp, and it has enough. People can’t believe the amp is only 10W. @ 6% efficiency that’s only 600mW of audio power @ full volume and believe me, it’s lots. They kill with my rodded Marshall Class5 or Marshall 50W, too. I used 1/2″ ply for the exterior to make them a little lighter, and used 1″ urethane foam lining instead of Fibreglas inside the boxes.
October 5th, 2013 at 5:40 pm
Thanks for hosting the now-obsolete TL806 plans. I have a Mesa Boogie Thiele cabinet that uses this design and I love its tight, punchy sound in contrast to the half-back Mark IV cabinet. With these plans, I hope to build at least two more (since you can cut two sets of pieces from a single 4′x8′ sheet of plywood).