Why is good, deep bass so difficult? - Myths and their Busters

I don’t know but I have a sneaking suspicion nobody ever ran curves for anything from the listening position. That’s not something in an audiophile’s bag of tricks. 👜 What audiophiles do is try something. Listen. Move it a little. Listen again. Try something else. Listen again. Ad infinitum. And they wonder why audiophiles frequently come down with a bad case of audio nervousa. 😬

I’m not sure how many different ways I can type this. If you are thinking of resonance cabinet control it is VERY different than what I am describing.

Imagine an open baffle speaker design of zero mass resting on frictionless rollers. As music plays, the speaker will roll back and forth on the skates, and the acoustic output will be reduced. This is the equal and opposite reaction to the energy of the motor acting on the baffle/motor and motor frame. This is a matter of force, leverage, and mass.

Is it an issue? I don’t know, I have had a number of people whose opinions I trust say they get better bass out of monitors with additional mass, which need not be particularly modern. An antique iron would work if it was heavy enough.



Best,

E

Yamamura used to make some very elegant limited slip plate thingamabobs for speakers. You can actually knock them off if you know what you’re doing. Limited slip plate devices offload excess energy from the speaker cabinet by converting that energy to work performed by the movement of the speaker allowed by the 3 piece limited slip plate arrangement under the speakers As far as mass goes, what can I say? People say things. People talk. Some people swear up and down that VPI bricks work due to increased mass. What else is new?

"The ideal that large woofers are slow is a myth is a myth. "

Large more massive objects are more difficult to move quickly. 
We all learned that in high school physics, I thought we did anyway.

Woofers are no different. 

When I say speed in this context I mean ability to produce deep bass through bass (16 Hz - 100Hz). Your average consumer 15" woofer of course will be crappy by 200 Hz or higher.

The reason the "lighter drivers must be faster" is not accurate in this case is because the final, total performance of a woofer is not just mass and inertia but also magnet strength, efficiency and required displacement for a given output. The amount that a 15" woofer has to move for a 25Hz signal is minuscule and far more efficient and lower distortion than an 8". The entire system matters (including the room).

To say a small woofer must be "faster" in bass is like saying a go-cart must be faster than a Honda Civic because it’s lighter. The only way that model is complete is if you are pushing both.

Mind you, I love the 6.5" woofers in my main speakers!! :) But they will never have the deep bass and the speed and glorious output of my 15" sub below 40 Hz.

As hard as it is to properly integrate large speakers into a room, few audiophiles get to hear how magnificent, fast and low distortion a big sub can be.

I'm also really done repeating this. Buy whatever you like, and listen to what you like.

Best,


E