I used to think such things mattered but now know very clearly they do not.
These specs are measured in anechoic chambers. So unless you listen in an anechoic chamber you can forget about that. Then since you are not in an anechoic chamber all the frequencies are reflecting everywhere creating nulls and modes where they are nullified and reinforced. This is especially bad the lower you go, where the lowest frequencies like you are talking literally criss-cross the room multiple times before you are even able to hear them. There’s psychoacoustic science behind all of this by the way.
Oh, and the top end is way more extended than you think. It extends far beyond 20kHz, to 40k at least if not 60k. No, you cannot hear that high. But instruments produce harmonics that high, which unless reproduced we lose fidelity. Change nothing else, simply add these back in, the whole presentation changes dramatically for the better. See my Townshend Maximum Supertweeter review and read others comments about supertweeters for more on that.
Really low bass, because of the physics of room dimensions, it really does not matter what anyone measures in their chamber it is nothing like what you are going to get at home. No two speakers ever made can do it. Physical impossibility. Unless in a vastly larger room or anechoic chamber.
What does work is multiple subs in multiple locations. With four subs it becomes very easy to achieve super clean articulate low bass. When this happens, another dramatic improvement in the presentation! Now since bass this low tricks our minds into believing we are in a large space the sound stage expands far beyond the room walls and starts to envelop us.
So that is what I think: we really do need everything from super low bass to beyond human hearing- only you cannot get it from any two speakers.
With two speakers, two supertweeters, and four subs in a distributed bass array you can achieve full range in terms of frequency response. We still haven't touched on dynamic range, something I thought for sure you were going to ask about. But didn't.
These specs are measured in anechoic chambers. So unless you listen in an anechoic chamber you can forget about that. Then since you are not in an anechoic chamber all the frequencies are reflecting everywhere creating nulls and modes where they are nullified and reinforced. This is especially bad the lower you go, where the lowest frequencies like you are talking literally criss-cross the room multiple times before you are even able to hear them. There’s psychoacoustic science behind all of this by the way.
Oh, and the top end is way more extended than you think. It extends far beyond 20kHz, to 40k at least if not 60k. No, you cannot hear that high. But instruments produce harmonics that high, which unless reproduced we lose fidelity. Change nothing else, simply add these back in, the whole presentation changes dramatically for the better. See my Townshend Maximum Supertweeter review and read others comments about supertweeters for more on that.
Really low bass, because of the physics of room dimensions, it really does not matter what anyone measures in their chamber it is nothing like what you are going to get at home. No two speakers ever made can do it. Physical impossibility. Unless in a vastly larger room or anechoic chamber.
What does work is multiple subs in multiple locations. With four subs it becomes very easy to achieve super clean articulate low bass. When this happens, another dramatic improvement in the presentation! Now since bass this low tricks our minds into believing we are in a large space the sound stage expands far beyond the room walls and starts to envelop us.
So that is what I think: we really do need everything from super low bass to beyond human hearing- only you cannot get it from any two speakers.
With two speakers, two supertweeters, and four subs in a distributed bass array you can achieve full range in terms of frequency response. We still haven't touched on dynamic range, something I thought for sure you were going to ask about. But didn't.