Bass Driver Size - how much better is an extra inch?

@bigjohn1995,

"So in my experience albeit limited bigger woofers can provide bigger sound but not always deeper bass."


Mine too. My 15 inch Tannoy DC drivers certainly have a big sound but I don’t think it goes down as deep as the slimline floorstanding Tannoy R3s with their twin 6 inch drivers.

It’s not always easy to be sure as most of the music I listen to hardly features much, if anything below 40Hz. Besides it’s a common misconception to think that 60Hz is where real deep bass is. That's why a lot of small speakers seem to give perfectly adequate bass without disturbing the furniture.

Horn loading like your Klipsch Cornwall’s will result in a different bass sound than ported designs which will sound different to sealed boxes.

As @mijostyn said earlier, real deep bass (sub 40Hz) is where you start to feel it rather than hear it. A key difference I think between live and reproduced sound.

Live sound is often equally felt as it is heard.

@cd318 --

Horn loading like your Klipsch Cornwall’s will result in a different bass sound than ported designs which will sound different to sealed boxes.

The Cornwall’s 15" bass driver is ported. The sibling La Scala’s on the other hand are using a 15"-loaded folded bass horn, and yes that’s certainly a different bass presentation vs. a ported, or even a direct radiating sealed design.

I was thinking it really mattershow many inches you’re already working with...

@phusis ,

I rather suspected that my front ported Tannoy Berkeley's didn't go down that far despite their 15 inch drivers.

According to one site their frequency response is 35Hz - 20kHz. I strongly suspect that it barely scrapes 35Hz let alone being flat.

Come to think of it, wouldn't FR stats be far more meaningful if they showed only the flat range, as opposed to -2db down or even worse?