Physics Question: Why does cabinet volume matter so much to bass response?

mahgister,

Yes, the room acoustics are fascinating to me even as a child. So, maybe understanding the room first, and then ’marry’ a speaker to it?

You must use a speakers pair to understand the room throught them...

You cannot understand a room out of his dialogue with a specific speakers pair...

It is the room that will reveal the beauty of your speakers, and it is your speakers that will ask for the room response first ...After a balanced material acoustic treatment, if you have a dedicated room, explore active mechanical control with Helmholtz devices...

After that you can use psycho-acoustic basic to adapt speaker A and B to ear A and B...but this is more complicate, if you go there i will give you some advice at this time...

If you have a small room it is easier to do... Under 15 feet... my room is 13 feet square... I dont have experience with big room...They will ask for other experiments... there is no universal recipe for a small room...The acoustic content, the audio system ask for specific installation.. . A great hall is another completely different matter... Science know much about big hall acoustic than about small room acoustic, because it is a new phenomema for few decades...

In acoustic listening experiments dictate all choices....Recipe are for acoustic sellers panels to simplify their life... 😁😊

If i had used simplistic acoustic recipe instead of experimenting, no way i will had enjoy a so great improvement... But my room with hundred of devices is a dedicated room and not a living room...Acoustic ask for an audio room...Living room are OK but you cannot transform it enough to serve the speaker and your own head and listening location... It is not the gear price the audiophile luxury it is a dedicated room...

All room is in individual content , you adapt , there is no great value in general recipe for ALL ROOMS ...

Nothing is more fun than exploring acoustic...if you chose well designed basic gear, upgrading is a waste of money by people unsatisfied who cannot change their acoustic than they change the gear...

I cannot even imagine i will upgrade because it will be costly for minor improvements... And even if this would be more major improvement i did not even think about this because i am too much happy already...

Nothing can beat acoustic experiments fun...

In simple physics terms, the woofer can woof more when the cabinet is bigger or is ported or a passive radiator is used.

Are you guys saying that a woofer can extrude further into the room and therefore play louder in a larger cabinet?  Is that because the air pressure is lower in a larger cabinet, so it pulls less on the woofer as it moves foward?

Well, it is a marriage between the driver and its abilities, and the cabinet made for it. You play to that particular drivers' strengths. In general, the bigger the woofer the bigger the cabinet. Again, this is applying to sealed and bass reflex/ported designs.

 It isn't a matter of the woofer being able to play louder any more than the woofer is supported by the cabinet's extension of resonance that aids in the woofer's lower octave response.

  You want big low bass, you will be the most successful with a larger cabinet and driver, given a proper design. And then you will move air.

You have to brace the heck out a large cabinet though, or else it will vibrate too much and the bass will be crap. A lot of smaller subs with strong cabinets can yield some amazing results.