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Newbie Q: How do small woofer speakers reach 32Hz?


I starting thinking about this after reading several Totem Hawk and Forest reviews and after seeing their specifications on the Totem website.

How on Earth do those speakers dig down to 32Hz? It just doesn't seem possible, especially with the 5.5" woofer in the Hawk. I suppose speaker design and driver selection has a lot to do with the overall frequency response, but those are such small woofers.

I own a set of Snell Type J/IV's that are very close in size to the Totems (full spec's of both the Hawks and J/IV's below). They have an 8" woofer and I'd say the bass response is quite good, maybe better than the manufacturer's specifications indicate. But why is there such a huge difference in the manufacturer specifications? Maybe Snell is conservative and Totem liberal with their measurements? Do the Hawks really get down to 32Hz?

Anyway, here are the specifications;

Totem Hawk
<32 Hz - 21 kHz ± 3 dB (with proper room positioning)
6 ohms
88dB sensitivity
30 - 120 watt recommended power
5.5" woofer, 1" tweeter
6.8" wide x 34.3" high x 9.6" deep

Snell Type J/IV
48 Hz - 20 kHz ± 2 dB
8 ohms
90dB sensitivity
15 - 150 watt recommended power
8" woofer, 1" tweeter
10.5" wide x 32.5" high x 9" deep
alpha220
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Great question. All I can say is they are manufacturers specs. You would have to listen to them yourself especially in your room with your equipment. I would suspect when they refer to proper room positioning I think in a nearfield setup you won't anywhere near 32hz. Where in a perfect larger room it may be possible. Remember -3db is half the loudness for that frequency. Also being a small driver they can not pressurize a room to give you the bass you can feel.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Unless it says free standing then the specs are not that meaningful as a wall will give a 6 db boost and a corner can give a 12 db boost...manufacturers make this stuff up in a business that has very little in the way of standards.

The other issue is how loud can it play? You are not going to get much at 32 Hz from a 5.5 inch woofer - perhaps 90 db SPL max if that?
aedv8sc
23 posts
 
Shadorne has a good point about freestanding. Perhaps they were tested in an anechoic chamber. IMO, if it were that easy to get to 32hz more speaker makers of small speakers would be doing it. When you actually try to duplicate their claims it in a home listening environment it just will not work. It takes a little more than a 8 in driver to pressurize a room at the lower octaves.
dgaylin
255 posts
 
Check out this set of measurements on the Totem Staf, which is admittedly a slightly smaller speaker than the Hawk, but in many ways similar.

The -6db point is 36 Hz.

I have had most of the Totem line and they are great speakers and have amazingly nice bass for their size. But physics is unavoidable. Even my Totem Forests required a subwoofer to sound their best.
dgaylin
255 posts
 
Sorry here are the measurements:

http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/1206totem/index2.html
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