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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
clio09
3,355 posts
 
However, this experience cannot be replicated in a home system, no matter how good it is, or how low the bass goes - unless you happen to live in the concert hall. You have to buy a ticket to experience that kind of truly deep bass.
Learsfool

That's always been my way of thinking about bass. Never been much of a sub fan even when I had my Spendor Classic Series speakers which aren't known for bass, but their mid-range. My current speakers go lower and the bass is more extended and very satisfying for home listening. To me trying to get bass to sound like it does in a well designed concert hall is a bit like a dog chasing it's tail. I'm sure it can be done, but at what cost? If I need to hear more bass I'll go to a concert.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,179 posts
 
It took me years to achieve it, but now my best recipe or great bass for reasonable cost are newer OHM series 3 or X000 series Walsh speakers driven by a good 500w/ch Icepower AMP. MIT networked ICs seem to work well in this combo.

Set this up well and use decent gear around it and you have some mighty tasty and hard to fault bass that hangs with the best.

And the rest is right up there as well.
doak
199 posts
 
The ability to fully and faithfully reproduce the lowest octave adds considerable realism to music reproduction.
However, I do not think it is best accomplished by a "full-range speaker." This is expensive, and leads to compromises in other areas of the speaker's design.

Reproduction of the bottom octave is what good subwoofers are for -- as in my Velodyne DD-18.
cdc
1,773 posts
 
There is 40hz bass and then there is 40hz ATC active 100's bass. Real 40hz isn't all that bad.

Elizabeth, LOL and then there was the woman on Jeopardy who was shown a picture of a bird and asked "What is a Booby?" Well if she doesn't know, then who would?
arj
68 posts
 
adding on to Dan_ed's post, from what i could figure out the fundamental at 40 Hz has a subharmonic at 20 Hz as well as overtones at 80 /160. it is a combination of all of these which give the flesh/timbre to the tone.
Any graphic equalizer using a digital out (eg i used a DEQ2496) shows a surprising amount of music in the 20-25hz region in many peices. the most surprising revelation has been "GrandMas hands" by Livingston Taylor. supposed to be an Acapella but has a consistent 20-25 hz bass content which is not heard in anything but a fullranger OR with subs and once you hear it that way can never ever listen to it without that bass fabric!
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