Do we really need anything more than 8" woofer and 1" tweeter for medium size room?


With the right electronics good 8" can go down very low and relatively clean. And if that's not enough, well, two 10" subs would do it. 
Opinions?
inna
Nothing will change. Room is a small box compared to concert hall or even to a jazz club. It means it is a very different environment.
I am sure that all participants here heard enough of live music. Live music can sometimes sound terrible too, so can poorly made and tuned instruments.

Inna, I just compared a 6 inch woofer on a two way, to headphones, to 12 inch woofer in the listening room. Bass is bass; naturally the 6 inch woofer on the two way in the bed room came up short, but so are the quality of the electronics. The headphones were better than the two way in regard to bass.

Since I've never had anything other than a 12 inch woofer, I can't comment on that, but a 12 inch woofer "feels" right; in other words I'm accustomed to "feeling" the bass. In regard to economics, an 8 inch woofer could cost more, and be of a higher quality than a 12 inch woofer, but the biggest cost increase is the cabinet; and that's more of a reflection of the manufacturers cost increase versus profit.

Without actually knowing the difference, I think you should audition the difference in your listening room. The enjoyment of music is very important to me; it's my main enjoyment, and when the economic factor is within reason, the only thing left is discovery. Audition speakers with 12 inch woofers in your listening room; in your listening room is a must because 12 inch woofers cause resonance problems.


Enjoy the music.
Orpheus10, I understand. One aspect of living in a rented apartment is that you can or have to move within a year. Speakers that work in one apartment may not work just as well in another. Two way 8"/1" would work in just about any smaller/medium size room. Besides, I don't really need to feel the bass the way you imply. But yeah, when listening to Helborg/Velez first track of Ars Moriende album, I wish the rig could go lower and better when going lower. I wonder what would it be like if I had, say, Lamm hybrid monos and tube preamp with the same speakers? Still, 8" woofer, at least this one, would probably be not good enough for this kind of music, but you never know until you try only suspect.

Quote: The big unaddressed question from the OP is "What constitutes 'relatively clean'".   At 85db in a mid-sized room, most 8" woofers are distorting horribly.  The good news is that the ear isn't terribly sensitive at such low frequencies, so you don't necessarily hear it ...... Until you switch in lower distortion (read larger) drivers to handle the bass.

That's really a loaded statement.... 85db is nothing. On todays drivers with stiffer cone materials, quality spiders and surrounds We really shouldn't be looking at horrible distortion... of course,  there was nothing said about the frequency that distortion was measured at, nor the normal excursion limits of the driver measured, its true that woofers normally have higher distortion than smaller drivers,  but overall,  today,  you just can't apply the above statement to "Most" 8 inch woofers. 

Tim