mid range visceral impact

[jquin]

Hi
I am looking to build a pair of front speakers for a home theater system with an emphasis on visceral impact.
I already have a sub-woofer that has a decent rumble but I am looking for more of a mid freq' kick.

So is there certain T/S parameters you look for to design a system with visceral impact, or is it the kind of design eg lots of mid-drivers wired in parallel?

 

[Salas]

Look for very high sensitivity 8 inch professional mid drivers.

 

[ralphs99]

Hi John,

I'd suggest low Qts, low Mms, high BI.

In other words smallish high efficiency professional midbass drivers as Salas has already suggested!

Room acoustics are also an important factor. The room needs to be large enough to allow 80Hz-160Hz kickdrum fundamentals to breath.

Avoid a crossover point in this range if possible.

Room modes interracting with speaker placement will also add or subtract from the impact experienced at lower frequencies.

Cheers, Ralph

 

[mgoedeke]

What you want good sir is a 12" Prosound driver mated to a matching HF section.

 

[SpeakerBob]

Lots of people seem to think the 'kick' in a system is from 60Hz - 200 / 300Hz.

To get decent output there I've used 15" pro drivers in sealed enclosures to good effect - the right ones will also fit in perfect with a home theater set up (xo @ 80Hz)

Try modelling the JBL 2226 driver or the Beyma LX60 15" driver for an example.

Here's my old setup:

Dynamics weren't a problem.

Rob.

 

[jquin]

Thanks heaps for the responses.

So does it make any difference between sealed or vented?
And are there any suggested alignments, SSB, etc?

Thanks again in advance

Regards
J Quin

 

[BAM]

With a pro driver, you are almost always looking at vented or horn-loaded. You might need a box of decent internal volume as well. Take a look at the Dayton Series II woofers. They are built by Eminence, which is also the major american manufacturer of professional audio drivers. They also have pretty good sensitivity specs as well, though in a nice big box they will still give good low end and take a beating.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I've heard, and it seems correct, that the literal visceral feeling results from a peak at the male thoracic cavity resonance, which, iirc, is ~130 Hz.

 

[moray james]

have a look at the

Lansing Heritage site in particular "Daniels System".

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/perspectives/drews-clues/system.htm

 

[ralphs99]

Hi John,

My first thought was that a sealed enclosure would provide more impact than a vented one. Mostly beacuse of the superior phase response but also because of the restorative air load.

However, at frequencies up around 100Hz or more, a vented box is operating well above any frequency where the vent is actually doing anything. Typically a vented box is tuned to a much lower frequency.

So I don't think it really matters whether the enclosure is vented or sealed. This is borne out by the fact that in practice both types of enclosures can sound very punchy.

Possibly better than either sealed or vented are straight horn loaded enclosures. Short, straight horns can have tremendous impact.

Not coincidentally, horns require drivers with low Qts, low Mms, high BI & highish Fs!

Cheers, Ralph

 

[Nixie]

visceral impact

How does that translate to engineering terminology?

 

[Salas]

Circa 130Hz average human torso resonates.