Cabinet

The wooden box that holds a loudspeaker, and a large part of why an electric guitar sounds the way it does.

An open-backed cabinet lets the speaker's rear radiation escape and gives a looser, more ambient low end, while a closed, sealed box forces the driver against a trapped volume of air, producing a tighter and more controlled bottom end with more punch. Size, internal volume, porting and the material of the box all tune the result, which is why a speaker that sounds poor on its own can sound right once it is mounted. Miking a cabinet is standard practice in the studio for the same reason.

Example: a closed-back 4x12 gives a hard, immediate rock rhythm sound, where the same speakers in an open-back combo sound softer and more spread out.

Cabinet

See also