Why would this sound gutless

[Pbassred]

Not that I'm complaining. It is what it is. I wouldn't use this without a dedicated bass speaker as well but there ARE sold as "full range". This same speaker is often plonked outside Maplin Stores. They sound totally bassless.

But just for the sake of education why?
They have 10 inch drivers ( big enough in your house)
Loads of volume in the box.

Is it just a rubbish driver or something more technical. Again, I'm not complaining. Just learning.

[Cal Weldon]

A 10" PA driver will have trouble keeping up with that horn. They probably haven't padded down the tweeter much in hopes that you will buy a bass helper. All the systems listed on their website use bass units in addition to those sort of upper.

Even with padding, I need six 15" and two amps to keep up with the horns.

[Pbassred]

Ok so that nasty piezo is more efficient than the "woofer", but even with a graphic........How come a 10" cant get down to to frequncies that 6" does?

[AndrewT]

Hi,
all speakers compromise.
You can have upto two from three of low bass, high efficiency, small size. When well designed you can get two but never all three together.

A "loud" speaker must compromise on either size or low bass.
PA drivers always go for no low bass and take the high efficiency route.
That 10inch driver may well be tailored towards high efficiency and forfeiting low bass as a result.

[BHTX]

That 10" woofer would probably be classified in pro audio as a "mid-bass" unit, and I'd be willing to bet Fs is anywhere from 50-90 Hz, most likely somewhere around 60-70 Hz. Depending on how terrible the speaker as a whole really is, Qts might be on the high side, but I'm guessing it's probably in the .20's. Just me guessing, of course. Combine those parameters of the 10" woofer with an extremely efficient cheap piezo horn, and there you have it...exactly what you're hearing. As previously mentioned by others, loudspeakers in the professional category are usually designed with very high sensitivity as the #1 priority. When this is done, A LOT is compromised.

[Iain McNeill]

I think we're assuming that the Carlsbro speaker mentioned was actually designed by a engineer.

In reality, it's more likely been cost reduced 20 times by accountants since the original 1970's model.

[Cal Weldon]

That's a piezo? The literature refers to it as a compression driver. More efficient than a piezo.

And yes, an Extremis 6.8 has a lower Fs than the Selenium 15's. It's all about thump with PA not depth or accuracy.

[BHTX]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon
And yes, an Extremis 6.8 has a lower Fs than the Selenium 15's. It's all about thump with PA not depth or accuracy.

Yeah, but the Selenium 15's are bigger, so they're better, because... Big speakers are better than little speakers.

I always kinda chuckle every time I see that sig.

[Cal Weldon]

Yes, big speaker make big thump, little speaker only make little thump

[kelticwizard]

I agree with BHTX. PA speakers are built for specific jobs. By "full range" they might mean full range of the human voice.

There are many PA cabs which have a 15 incher, 10 incher plus a tweeter. Take that 10 incher out of it's intended 3 way configuration, put it in it's own box, (larger than the small enclosure it had in the 3 way setup), call it a "full range", and there you go.

Although there are some small, cheap, relatively inefficient 10 inch PA units designed for small rooms, most PA speakers designed for DJ work are 15's, usually with an internal volume of 3 cu ft, (85L) or so.

Look at it this way. Would all those DJ's be lugging those big stupid 15 inch boxes around if they could get away with using 10 inchers in their jobs? You need efficient bass down to 60 Hz or so, and those 15's are the most common compromise to get it.