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

"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

Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms by Floyd Toole

Large 15" woofers don’t have to do higher frequencies and are never required to operate as fast as a tweeter! Duh. Face Palm. However they do reproduce bass frequencies orders of magnitude better than small 6 or 8" woofers. Those who would deny this are just drinking maketing BS. Clearly some people are unaware of the physics of a large surface area vs a small one and the Xmax (linear) limitations of voice coil travel.

Slow bass or poor PRAT is a combination of poor timing alignment, poor frequency response balance between mids tweeter and woofer, as well as resonant Q tuning and port tuning of the box. A dip in the mid range will reduce bass punch. High Q systems resonate and make the bass "hum" or sound "blurred" rather than "punch". Exceeding Xmax or a long voice coil in a short magnetic gap means non linear response, excessive compression from heat and a dull boomy smeared bass. Dull boomy smeared bass is what most 6 or 8 inch woofers with cheap 1 inch voice coils do! A 15" woofer with a 3 or 4" voice coil is a much better design, as far as audio fidelity is concerned at LOW frequencies. Of course you can’t expect a 15 inch woofer to even begin to do the mid range like a 6 inch can. 6 inch is a monitor or toy size when it comes to bass and 15" is professional.

You simply can NOT find a reputable studio with large main monitors that have 6 inch woofers and there is a good reason you can’t! So please stop repeating the marketing BS about fast small toy sized woofers!