how low to go for music?

[rjon17469]

I'm building a set of speakers primarly for music, and size is a big consideration, so I'm wondering how low I really need to get the speakers to go to be decent for music?

Opinions?

[wintermute]

As always that depends

It depends on what you are happy with, what sort of music you listen to, how much you want to spend, how big the boxes can be, whether you will have a separate subwoofer etc.....

Lowest piano note is 27.5Hz I'm sure that there are lower notes around from some orchestral instruments.... There is also the argument that to reproduce the sound faithfully there are harmonics even lower than the actual notes, so you should be able to reproduce those too.

I personally would want something with at least 35Hz as a -3db point, but the lower the better

Tony.

[saramac]

well, if you dont listen to organ's or some funky tampi drum music 40 hz with -3 in the high 30's should do you just fine. My main's are flat to 35hz and the addition of two very large subs did squat for music. H.T. is another matter however. Hope this helps.

[AndrewT]

Hi, go as low as budget allows.
I went from 15inch Tannoys to Acoustic Energy AE1s. Stereo was much improved, bass was adequate but it lost that authority the big speakers gave. The spec for both speakers at the lo end was very similar. But the peak output for the small speaker turned out to be much less and I think it was the peak ability of the Tannoy that gave that extra apparent grunt ( but still not bass dominant).
regards Andrew T.

[Mudge]

Originally posted by AndrewT
Hi, go as low as budget allows.

Well said
A quick flick through my CD collection will turn up some stuff with significant output in the low teens and others with nothing below 100Hz. I've also ventured round to a friend's place where his mains measure flat down to 17Hz in room (I trust his measurement) and some CDs sound totally different.

[Pbassred]

and others with nothing below 100Hz

This rings a bell. I have a producer friend who insists; "there is no MUSIC below 100Hz.
In popular music producers often pull it off in favour of increased power elsewhere. Commertial music is about being loudest. So its tonally distorted and compressed to hell. You don't notice the missing 100Hz on the radio. Its art not reality.

That's not to say your system should lack the capability of course.

[nuppe]

Pbassred:
As a bass player (from your nickname i guess you play Fender? I play Warwick) I'd be offended if someone told me there was no music under 100Hz, even if the one who said it was a friend

Seriously tho, about going low, if the object is to go low in a small box, maybe an assisted sub such as a Linkwitz transform or a Critical Q sub would do the trick? Both are active systems, so they are a bit more complex and costly than a standard system, but seem to be good ways to extend low bass response in small boxes. I haven't tried these myself but the idea appeals to me. Also, you will be trading efficiency for extension and the driver needs to be selected carefully, as it is going to be stressed a lot more than in an ordinary setup.

/Andreas

[rjon17469]

Thanks for all your replies. The music played will be mostly adult alternative and oldies, so I'm not planning on a really deep bass response. I have a design which is -3 around 38 Hz, which I'm assuming should be more than enough.

Thanks again.

[owdi]

This really depends on the size of the room, since room gain can do wonderful things for small subwoofers. I have a sealed 10" sub in .6 cubic feet that had a -3db at 25hz in a room that was 11'x10'x8'.

So how big is your room? Divide 573 by the longest dimension (in feet) of your room to get the target -3db point for a sealed enclosure.

If you are more than 1/3 of an octave away from the -3db point... IMO, add a passive radiator. So if the largest dimension of your room is more than 20 feet, I would stronly consider adding a PR... but only if you are very concerned about low bass.

Dan

[Mudge]

Just to confirm the wonders of room gain, my friend uses Genelec HT210s, flush mounted into a baffle. The anechoic F2.5 is 42Hz