Wattage Required for Equal Output at All Frequencies

[DrDyna]

Could be, but this is off CD. Wonder if the FFT shows dynamics as subsonics? Certainly there can be level changes over long periods.

Well, I say that because I've seen some albums, even on cd where the bass driver is flopping all over the place and it has nothing to do with the recording.

 

[weltersys]

That may be a function of the FFT window. Let me see if I can fix that.
Same song -262144 samples. I would guess the response below ~20 is bogus. (or is it?)

I'd agree.
The "flat line" nature of the trace below what appears to be whatever musical genre's LF roll off point does not look consistent with music.

Some VLF garbage from air handling systems etc. makes it's way on to some recordings (and local TV news announcers, seems there are "engineers" without a clue about using HP filters) but with good engineers like Pink Floyd employs to not clean up that mess seems unlikely.

 

[DrDyna]

but with good engineers like Pink Floyd employs to not clean up that mess seems unlikely.

Oh, the Pink Floyd sound puffs air around the room entirely not by accident Same with that BT track, which lulls you into a rather placid track, then at the 5 minute mark, tries really hard to see how far it can make a woofer pop out of the coil gap.

It seems each time I build a new pair of subs I get treated a little more to just how much some of this extremely low and often brutal stuff is present.

As far as the thread title is concerned though, I've been riding the volume control at very spirited levels for a long while. I drink a bit and I like a good kicking tune to go with it, what can I say? Now, with B&G tweets (fairly shy as far as power handling, even the att resistor is only a 12 watt mills) and these two TC Sounds woofers at the other end with an EP2000 behind them..and it's always pretty much my subwoofers that run out of gas before my mains do.

Sure, I get a bit more out of it each time I switch to a new and improved sub, but I've never fried a tweeter...even when I ran a pair of XT25s with nothing but a 12mfd cap and a lack of common sense.

*shrug*

 

[luckythedog]

As I do know, very low frequencies require a lot of wattage. Very high ones, not so much at all. But, what is the "wattage curve" if it exists and is there an equation?

I'm just curious to know if an equation exists. I am guessing that the power requirement increases exponentially as the frequency goes down? And, does this involve using the Fletcher-Munson curve also? Then, it becomes a subjective and not an objective calculation...arrrgggghhh.

I think it is an interesting question, and here's my 2p worth attempt to answer :

Ignore the Fletcher-Munson curve for a moment and consider two adjacent octaves each of which has equivalent broad spectrum power content and audible level. Spectral power density W/Hz in the lower octave will be twice that in the higher octave. Then at any arbitrary SPL, spectral power density follows a 1/f characteristic. And at any spot freqency, equivalent power required for the same perceived level would also follow a 1/f characteristic. On assumption our ears hear equivalent broad spectrum noise power as similar levels over a span of octaves. The Fletcher-Munson curve would then modify this, of course.

And empirically, spectral density for most natural sounds, and recorded programme material which sounds balanced, typically follows a 1/f characteristic.

I think !

 

[luckythedog]

On that basis, for typical balanced programme material, 5W at 500Hz would be roughly matched by c 0.5W at 5kHz, and c 50W at 50Hz. Which seems plausible enough, IME. Fletcher Munson aside.