Smallest driver to authoritatively hit 25Hz?

Don't forget about the Peerless P830945 and 830946. They have more sensitivity than the TB equivalents, and can work in a relatively small box.

In any case, the 6.5-7" category should be minimum. This includes:
W6-1139
830946
Anarchy 6
DCS165-4
Epique7
HiVi D6G

I'm sure there are many geared towards car audio that could also work:
Skar
Memphis
Sundown
Massive
Earthquake
JL
Toro Tech
Etc...
 
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I'm one of those dudes that's a 'quality over quantity' guy. For that reason, I always get annoyed at live gigs where the PA's can smash 45Hz or even 35Hz (in the better venues), but the bass drops just fall flat anywhere below that and at 25Hz, it's just flab. I'm interested in designing and small bookshelf unit (>= 0.5ft^3) that can hit flat to 25Hz with an F3 in the low 20's and F10 in the teens. It's obviously not gonna go super loud and I'll need a hefty amp to push it and I'm fine with that. I just want a solid set of office speakers that can actually play everything on the recordings without having to drag in a massive overkill sub. About the closest thing I can find is the TangBand W5-1138SMF, but even that tapers off around 30Hz in a ported unit. It'll do, I guess, but if there's a similar size (5 1/4") or smaller that can go lower in a small enclosure, I'm all ears!
Authority, quality over quantity, and a 5" inch driver is simply an impossible combination. First of all, you will get very little quantity when trying a 5" driver to play down into the 20s. Second, you will get lots and lots of distortion down there with such a tiny driver. Don't expect A 5" driver with f10 down in the 10s to play any louder than 55-60dB distortion free. Above that, it simply becomes a distortion generator. That is the law of physics.

If you want authority you really need to look at something way bigger than a 5" driver. Start with a 12", preferably 15" at the low end. Then we are talking about "authority". It will never happen with a tiny driver, not even at whisper volumes. Maybe you have a totally different meaning by the word authority but I have simply never heard it from any 5" driver in existance, and I have heard a whole lot of them.
 
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Yes an 8 inch subwoofer can go that low, quite easily as a matter of fact BUT not with "Authority". At least I have to hear the first one that does.
Authority and small drivers is a contradiction. That's trying to make gold out of lead. You can make it shine but it will never be gold and it will loose it's shiny surface pretty soon.
 
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Yeah, first determine authority. If its nice loud listening volume without too much distortion, say 90db at one meter, then look at chart to get volume displacement required.
displacement chart metric.gif

Perhaps 170cm3 volume displacement makes 90db at one meter 25Hz. 5" driver has cone area of roughly 80cm2 so excursion would need to be about 2cm. Four 5" drivers would make perhaps low enough distortion 0.5cm excursion.

90db of low bass is not as loud as 90db of 1kHz, usually we need more, much more, say 100db. According to volume displacement graph ~25Hz at 100db takes 15" driver ( Sd around 850cm2) to make ~0.5cm excursion, perhaps some authority already? This is roughly 5x 5" drivers doing 1cm excursion. 5" driver have around 10 times less surface area than single 15". Adapt to each situation.

To really have authority, 15db headroom, shoot for the 1 acoustic Watt territory, 2000cm3, or 50x 5" drivers doing 0.5cm excursion, or couple proper 18" or 21" drivers.
 
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