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35Hz - 25kHz -- A Partial 'Purist'?

It's amazing how much musical information can be found in the lowest bass regions say 30Hz down to below 20Hz, whether classical, folk, instrumental, pop, etc..

Yet, I'm purplexed to see some to many audiophile 'purists' refuse to even attempt to resolve the obvious deficiency in their systems which simply cannot reproduce any musical information in the lowest regions of the frequecy spectrum.

No matter how musical, how refined, and/or how infinite the configurations a good musical subwoofer can offer, the 'purist' simply will not consider adding a subwoofer to supplement their mains. There's too many good subs (you only need one) ranging from $1k to $30k that can be quite quite musical and allow for near-infinite configurations to adapt to most any system and listening preference. And, yes, I am aware there are many more bad subwoofers, but's that's another thread.

As a self-proclaimed 'fundamentalist', my quest is to ensure my 2-channel system is such that any musical information coming from the source stands an excellent chance of being faithfully reproduced for my listening pleasure.

And by adding a musical 18 inch subwoofer, I don't believe I've given up anything.

I would enjoy hearing what others think.
stehno

Showing 4 responses by seandtaylor99

seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
I think some of the reason that subs are not more widely used is that until you've heard one you really don't know what you're missing. So many ported cabinets substitute a hump in the mid bass for real bass that many people aren't really aware what real bass sounds like. My REL sub converted me.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Rlwainwright. Since my room is 10x12 according to your suggestion I should not bother with any frequency below 90Hz ? Obviously not.
Driving frequencies below the lowest resonant frequency of the room is the whole point of most subwoofers. You should listen to a good sub sometime. It may not be to your taste, but I guarantee you'll hear frequencies much lower than your simple formula suggests.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
You're right that there are peaks and valleys in the bass response due to the standing wave pattern in the room, and that this means sub placement is critical relative to the walls and listening position in most rooms.

Within the peaks and valleys you are still hearing true low frequency notes ... just the standing wave pattern makes the relative volume of the sub and the main speakers vary thoughout the room. Hence the placement issue.
This aside you can have very satisfying, if not perfect, low frequency reproduction in a small room, and for me this substantially increases my enjoyment of the music. What you are presenting are facts, but they're not the full facts, and to imply that they are is misleading.
Have you ever heard a good sub setup ?
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
I stand by my previous post on standing wave patterns and I don't think that there is anything in the link above that refutes it. I can understand people using "laws of physics" arguments to deny that cables sound different, or that solid state equipment needs to "burn in", but to say that a subwoofer is not capable of reproducing low frequencies in small rooms ... well I never thought I'd see such a post. I suggest you visit a REL dealer and give the theory a practical examination.
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