It is my opinion that speakers account for about 50% or more of your tone. I have done a lot of experimenting over the years with speakers and i must admit that it is a royal pain in the ass comparing them! I think Carl like many others did a natural progression in that you won't know what you really love until you keep trying out different cabs/speakers.
To add more insult to injury ... It has been my findings that different cabs from the same manufacturer can sound way different even when loaded with the same speaker. I have 2 Marshall cabs that are the same year and make(1960-b cabs) and you would piss yourself if I showed you how different they both sound even after putting the same speakers in each cab and comparing the 2 cabs!! One sounds dull and the other has a knock that the other doesn't have. That said, I can get away with putting brighter speakers in one cab and boomier speakers in another!
nuts I tell you!!
