Why the obsession with the lowest octave


From what is written in these forums and elsewhere see the following for instance.

Scroll down to the chart showing the even lowest instruments in this example recording rolling off very steeply at 40 Hz.

http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/news.php?action=view_story&id=154

It would appear that there is really very little to be heard between 20 and 40 Hz. Yet having true "full range" speakers is often the test of a great speaker. Does anyone beside me think that there is little to be gained by stretching the speakers bass performance below 30-40 cycles?
My own speakers make no apologies for going down to only 28 Hz and they are big floor standers JM Lab Electra 936s.
mechans
Mechans - Quality of the bass is more important than extension IMHO. My current speakers have larger drivers and more volume than my old speakers but extension is slightly worse. Dynamics, attack and decay of the bass, on the other hand, are much better. It has to do with tuning for the lowest distortion and not for the extension. Of course it is the best to have both but it also costs both - an arm and a leg.
Stan
All due respect but I had used a test tone CD which did show that they produces a low note at 28 Hz. Below that the tones made the woofers wobble in a frightening long excursion but made little sound. I will check again but these are the 936 Electra not the 1036.
Mine goes to eleven!

I'd agree that quality of bass, and control as well as balance, is all very important. Just because a speaker can reproduce down to XXhz does not mean that it does a convincing job in portraying those lower frequencies and the instruments that produced them. I think this is one of those things that reveal the limitations of graphs/numbers/measurements in telling the whole story. Here's where having two ears comes in mighty handy, and gives you a better idea of what the speaker in question is capable of. As far as why such a stress is put on it, one need only take a listen to a system that really gets that right can bring to the table, in order to understand why it is so coveted in spite of the fact that the majority of what we listen to exists on the middle rather than the extremes. It brings in one of our others senses big time (touch/feeling) and connects with us in an almost primordial way. I think it is also VERY difficult for a speaker/system/room to do well, so when that is done well, it's pretty amazing to experience.
The 1036 is a bigger and more expensive speaker. The 3 db down point on the Electra 1037 BE is 33Hz in its test in HIFI+ issue 52. As it has 3 8" woofers rather than the 2 of the 936 [ according to Audiogon Blue Book] and costs roughly twice as much it is hard to see how the 936 could have better bass. When we say that a speaker has response to a given frequency we mean that it has a flat response to it; my REL subs produce audible output at 15.5 Hz but I don't regard them as going that low. To get a speaker that is only 3 db down at 28 Hz takes either size of money or both. The Wilson Sofia 3 just manages 3.5 db down at 28 Hz and it is an exceptional performer in the bass.