Wecome to Torngat Audio

Torngat Audio is a small business located in Ottawa, Ontario, that specializes in high-quality audio products and services for musicians. These include:

- Design and construction of speaker cabinets for amplified musical instruments.
- Production of cables for use with instruments and speakers.

Torngat Audio also does some small electronic prototype work, for example: a contact pickup for acoustic instruments (based on an industrial accelerometer), high-quality power supplies (wall-wart replacements), and a high-quality preamp / instrument signal booster.

Our products are sold on a cost-plus basis.

NOTICE: I had planned to open in late May following our usual winter shutdown. All was on schedule and I was beginning to prepare my workspace and tools. Unfortunately, I fell heavily in the street in May and sustained a number of injuries. These have not all healed as expected and I will need to receive treatment and spend more time healing than expected. Because of this, I have sadly decided to put the speaker-building and refurbishing side of the business on hiatus for 2022. I was planning to build a number of 1x10" and 1x12" cabinets using Celestion, Jensen, and Eminence speakers, but these will not be built this year. Please note that I am still able to make custom cables and design speakers as I don't have to stand or carry heavy loads.

Please note that there will be a price increase in my cabinets starting in 2022. The price of many cabinets was previously kept at or below cost to help establish the business and the cost of wood products has doubled over the past three years. I do not generally charge for my labour, as this business is more of a hobby than it is a living. My old stocks of wood have been used up and all wood products for new cabinets will need to be purchased at current prices. Sorry, but these increases are out of my control. Since wood is the single most expensive component in my cabinets, after the speaker itself, this will mean that prices will go up quite sharply. An empty 1x12" cabinet is now estimated to cost about $300. I am looking for ways to keep this as low as possible, but I will not switch to lower-quality materials. My cabinets will remain being built out of Baltic birch, with hardwood bracing. Please also note that with the higher inflation rate this year, the price of many parts has also risen.


Speaker Cabinets

Torngat Audio designs and builds quality speaker cabinets for musicians. We use our own design ideas for instrument speakers, rather than being just another furniture builder. A large percentage of the speaker cabinets on the market are simply boxes just large enough to hold the speakers used. They are built to a competitive price point, which means that the components and parts are designed and selected to minimize production costs. Too many cabinets are built with nothing more in mind than providing a good-looking stand for the amplifier. Products from Torngat Audio, however, are designed to produce a full-bodied sound and are built very ruggedly with quality components. Our prices cannot compete with low-cost products from the major manufacturers, but we can more than compete on design, build, and component quality.

More information about speaker cabinet design

We start our design process using software we have developed ourselves, using cabinet design equations available in the public domain. This gives us a basic vented design with the general frequency response we are seeking. The sound from these cabinets has been refined by testing and by using commercial speaker design software (Harris Tech Bassbox Pro), where the Thiele-Small (T-S) parameters for the speakers are available. We have also acquired a DATS v3 system (Dayton Audio Test System) to allow us to test speakers and accurately measure their Thiele-Small parameters and impedance. We have upgraded the DATS calibration process to provide even more accurate results. This gives us the ability to better tune our speaker systems and to test individual speakers against the production average measurements provided by manufacturers.

Our speaker cabinets are generally designed to provide a deep and powerful soundstage with a smooth response over the low and lower-middle frequency ranges. In most cases, the response is deep enough to cover the full range of six- and seven-string guitars (down to the 50 Hz range). Our cabinets are somewhat larger than those made by other maufacturers and most are tuned, ported designs to aid the low-end response. Our open-back cabinets use longer-than-usual acoustic signal paths to reduce early rolloff.

Drivers have been carefully selected to complement the cabinet design. Our smallest general-purpose instrument cabinets have used FaitalPro pro-audio mid-bass speakers, which feature a neutral sound, excellent attack, and high power-handling capacity. These are reasonably-priced speakers which feature better performance than traditional small guitar speakers, which are generally made for use in small cabinets with inexpensive practice amps. Our standard cabinets are generally built using Celestion speakers, although other brands may be used or specified by the buyer. In the Celestion line, we typically use the V-Type and offer the G12H-75 Creamback as a higher-priced option. These speakers feature a smooth, linear bottom-end, a balanced mid-range, and a moderately-bright top end. Combined with our vented enclosures, they produce a full-bodied sound not usually heard in commercial cabinets.

Our extended response and bass speakers have used Eminence Legend B102 10" dual-cone drivers in the past. However, Eminence has recently discontinued this product, so we can no longer offer it in new builds. We now offer the Eminence Legend B810 10" bass guitar cabinets. The B810 also has a fairly wide frequency response.

The woofers commonly available for instrument cabinets, usually 10", 12", or 15" single-cone speakers, often lack an extended top end, which can limit their high-end response and attack. They often emphasize the mid-bass frequencies (100 to 250 Hz), rather than true bass response (down to 50 Hz or less). In addition, they often have a very non-linear response between 1,000 and 3,000 Hz which can produce some unusual audio characteristics (e.g., pronounced 'honkiness'). Some musicians and manufacturers look for this type of exaggerated sound. However, we believe that an extended and reasonably linear response brings out an instrument's better nature, without overly exagerrating any part of the sound.

Our guitar cabinets can be fitted with a 1" high-frequency compression driver or multiple small cone drivers to entend the upper-mid and high-end response of the speaker system and to improve attack. Although this type of speaker system is not commonly used outside of cabinets intended for acoustic guitars, it can provide benefits for electric guitars and other amplified instruments depending on the user's playing style and the sound they are seeking. Please note that the extended high-frequency response of these speakers may make distortion artifacts more audible with some guitar / amplifier / pedal combinations. Harmonic distortion produces odd and even harmonics spread throughout the frequency spectrum, as well as modulated sum and difference frequencies (intermodulation distortion). Odd harmonics, for example, can sound harsh to the ear and are usually found where clipping distortion is present (e.g., diode clipper distortion pedals). Tubes tend to produce distortion comprised of even harmonics, which is smoother-sounding to the ear. But this situation is not common and extended highs tend to enhance the sound.

The crossovers for these speakers are designed using commercial software (Harris Tech X-over Pro). Guitar cabinets normally use a custom 12 dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley crossover and bass cabinets a 24 dB/octave crossover, but other types may be used depending on the speakers fitted. All crossovers are assembled using high-quality audio components, including air-core inductors, metallized polypropylene capacitors, and non-inductive resistors. Instrument amplifiers that incorporate an active crossover and amplifier for the higher frequencies do not require a passive crossover and can be ordered with any connector(s) needed to match the user's amp.

All cabinets are constructed using 18mm (3/4" nominal) Baltic birch plywood with hardwood bracing at all joins, unless otherwise noted. All cabinets have a removable rear baffle attached to hardwood bracing for additional stiffness. Rear-ported cabinets (optional for most designs) can be easily tuned to a different frequency response characteristic and/or a different speaker simply by replacing the rear baffle with one with a new port configuraion. All cabinets are assembled using Franklin Titebond III waterproof glue. Externally visible hardware (e.g., corners, handles) are attached using stainless-steel or black oxide finish screws. Cabinets are provided with one or two connectors, usually standard 1/4", Neutrik locking 1/4", and/or two-pole Neutrik SpeakON. We can fit our cabinets with either black steel mesh grills or cloth grills.

The cabinets we currently have for sale are listed below. The cabinets included in the "Recently sold" list are examples of standard and custom cabinet work we have done for clients in the past. Any new cabinet can be customized with Tolex in the colour and finish of your choice. Please note that the exchange rate directly affects the cost of purchasing many speaker models, including FaitalPro and Jensen speakers, as these are sourced from suppliers in the US or Europe. Celestion and Eminence speakers are souced from Canadian suppliers. Please note that any speakers presently available for purchase were built with materials and supplies purchased prior to 2020. The price of wood products has approximately doubled since that time and any new builds will be made using newly-purchased materials. At this time, it is estimated that these increases will add at least 25% to the price of a new 1x10" or 1x12" cabinet. Some other parts, such as speakers, have also had moderate increases in cost.

While we sometimes make suggestions as to what type of amplifier will work well with a particular speaker, please be aware that every amp / speaker combination will sound different. Changing the settings on some tube amps can noticeably change the way they interact with the speaker. The best way to determine whether you like a particular speaker is to audition it with your own instrument and amp. We can provide a guitar and a modern tube amp if required, but we always advise people to bring along their own gear. Our speaker models can sound quite a bit different to one another, so it is important to audition them carefully.

Some of our speakers are being sold at reduced prices. They are all new and unused, except for a short period of testing. These are prototypes or simply cabinets that have not yet sold and are starting to clutter up the house. All are built to the same standards as the rest of our speakers.

6-, 7-, and 12-string electric guitars and other amplified instruments:
- 2x8" cabinet, with Celestion Eight 15 guitar speakers (Price Reduced).
- 2x8" cabinet, with FaitalPro 8FE200 pro-audio speakers.
- 1x10" cabinet, with Celestion guitar speaker (other speaker models available, optional high-frequency section).
- 1x12" cabinet, with Celestion guitar speaker (other speaker models available, optional high-frequency section).
- 1x15" cabinet, with Celestion guitar speaker (optional high-frequency section).

Bass / multipurpose cabinets for instruments requiring an extended frequency response:
- 1x10" cabinet, with extended bass and highs, with Eminence dual-cone bass guitar speaker and an HF driver (Price Reduced).
- 2x10" cabinet, with extended bass and highs, with Eminence dual-cone bass guitar speakers and an HF driver (Price Reduced).

Recently sold:
- 2x6" cabinet, with FaitalPro pro-audio speakers.
- 1x12" cabinets, with various speakers (including optional high-frequency section).
- 2x12" cabinets, with various speakers.
- 1x15" cabinet, with extended low- and high-frequency response, Celestion driver, and an HF driver array.
- 4x10" cabinet, with Goldwood GW-1058 pro-audio speakers.
- 4x10" cabinet, with Weber Blue Pup speakers, custom design and finished as per user specifications. Shades of Vox.

Full details are available on request. Please feel free to contact us to audition any of the speakers, before starting to negotiate a price. Try it first, then decide if it is what you are looking for. Each cabinet has a unique sound to complement your equipment and playing style, so try any ones you like. We welcome any visitors who want to audition our speakers!

Torngat Audio also rebuilds or refurbishes older cabinets or combos (speakers and cabinet only) to your specifications.


Cables

We make a number of different cables to complement the equipment we build for musicians. All our cables are made using high-quality audio components and are assembled using silver solder where applicable. Cables are sold on a cost-plus basis: the cost of the parts plus a modest charge to cover labour and miscellaneous materials not directly charged to the customer. We make four types of cable at this time:

- Speaker: Our standard speaker cables are assembled using Amphenol JM2P-series Jumbo 1/4" TS (mono) cable connectors and 16 AWG SJ-style audio cable. We are currently offering DH Labs Odyssey 14 AWG speaker cable as an upgrade to the standard cable for a small increase in cost. Neutrik NL2FX two-pole Speakon cable connectors may be used in place of one or both Amphenol connectors if desired. Please note that many of our speakers are provided with Neutrik Speakon 2-pole connectors in addition to the standard 1/4" audio connectors. We can provide cables with a standard 1/4" connector at the amp end and a two-pole Speakon connector at the speaker end for a slightly lower price than our standard cables. One additional advantage of this type of speaker cable is that it is less likely to sprout legs and walk away on you in clubs and rehearsal halls.

- Instrument: Our standard instrument cables are assembled using industry-standard Neutrik NP2X-B straight and/or NP2RX-B right-angle 1/4" TS (mono) cable connectors and Mogami 2534 Neglex quad-conductor microphone cable. Mogami 2534 is an excellent all-round cable for small-signal audio applications.

- Microphone: Our standard microphone cables are assembled using industry-standard Neutrik NC3MX-B male / NC3FX-B female straight and/or NC3MRX-B male / NC3FRX-B female right-angle three-pin XLR cable connectors and Mogami 2534 Neglex quad-conductor microphone cable. These components produce a very high-quality mic cable at a reasonable price.

- Power: Our standard power cables are modestly-priced shielded power cables assembled using 8215 hospital-grade male plugs, IEC 320 female plugs, and standard 14 or 16 AWG SJ-type three-conductor flexible power cable (depending on length and power requirements). The cable is shielded by covering it with a braided copper shield, which is then protected by a braided sleeve. Among other advantages, a shielded power cable helps reduce much of the hum and noise induced on any signal cables adjacent to or crossing any power cables. A definite advantage with the rat's-nest of wiring typically found behind amplifiers and inside rack enclosures.

Any of these cables may be upgraded with audiophile-grade parts by special order. There are any number of premium audio components available on the market at just about any price point you would care to imagine. We are limited only by the budget available.


Contact Information

Torngat Audio is located in Ottawa, Ontario, and may be contacted via email at Torngat.Audio(AT)yahoo.com. Please note that our woodshop closes down for the winter months (normally early November to late April, depending on the weather). No speaker cabinets are made during the shutdown period, but other design and assembly work continues.


Footnotes

Torngat Audio is named after the Torngat Mountains, located in north-eastern Quebec and Labrador. These mountains feature some of the most spectacular scenery in North America. I first heard of them many years ago while reading a book which described them as, to the best of my recollection: "curtains of granite falling into the sea". I doubt I will ever get there, but maybe someone reading this could appreciate the view up close some day.
Torngat view #1   Torngat view #2


All information ©2017-2022 Torngat Audio.