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50hz deep enough?

I am looking at getting some new speakers and I am leaning toward a few differently bookshelf's.

However some of them only go down to 50hz.

Is this deep enough for music only? I am not a bass junkie. I just want to be true to the music. I know that there is information in the music I will be missing. However with a speaker starting to drop off at 50hz will I still be able to follow the rhythm of a bass guitar and large drums?

With my current set up I get LOTS of bass. My speakers are rated 34Hz +/- 3dB. Once I added my line conditioner and rega planet I found my bass really took a step up. or a step deeper I should say. Thus why I am wondering if a smaller monitor my be acceptable.

If you deem 50 Hz not deep enough, what would you consider minimum to be enjoyable and due justice to the music. I listen to everything except for Rap and country. I like rock, bluegrass, jazz, classical, vocal etc.... even metal on occasion.

Cheers.
nickway

Showing 5 responses by bomarc

bomarc
501 posts
 
If your current speakers are Paradigm Reference Studio 40s, they aren't anywhere near flat to 50 Hz. Tom Nousaine measured them for Sound & Vision several months back, and if my recollection is accurate, found that they started rolling off somewhere around 70 or 80 Hz.

Given that they provide you with, in your words, LOTS of bass, I don't think you have to worry about other bookshelf models falling short.

(Also, you shouldn't take this as a slam at Paradigm. All speaker manufacturers exaggerate bass performance. And the 40 is an excellent bookshelf speaker.)
bomarc
501 posts
 
Just noticed your post about room sizes. Well, that explains why a bookshelf speaker is giving you lots of bass! Once you move into the larger room, you won't get nearly as much, with that or any other bookshelf speaker.
bomarc
501 posts
 
No bookshelf speaker is flat to 50 Hz, no matter what their specs say. On the other hand, they can be helped by room interactions, so it's really hard to say what's an acceptable rolloff point--and that leaves aside the most important question: What's acceptable to YOU?

I recommend that you try to borrow a pair of monitors and try them out in your room, preferably for a week or two, to let your ears get used to the new sound. That's the only way to know whether such a speaker will work for you in your room.
bomarc
501 posts
 
I want to correct a misimpression that Rbstehno seems to have taken away from my (and perhaps other) posts: Bookshelf speakers can be quite apppropriate for larger rooms. But no speaker will give you as much bass in a large room as in a small one. So a speaker that gives you adequate bass in a small room might not satisfy in a larger one.

Mechans makes a good point about how low "low bass" is. Most pop music (even heavy metal) has little or nothing in the bottom octave, below 40 Hz. A standard electric bass only goes down to 42 Hz. (Acoustics, depending on size, may reach as low as 32 Hz, I believe.)

A bookshelf speaker that starts rolling off at 80 Hz is still going to output substantial energy an octave lower than that. With room reinforcement, you aren't going to miss much, especially in a small space. Plus, your brain hears the second harmonics, an octave up, and tends to fill in the missing information anyway.
bomarc
501 posts
 
Rbstehno: I agree that the best (and probably only) way to know whether any speaker will give you satisfying bass is to try it out at home. And my post offered some explanation for why a smaller speaker might nevertheless give you decent bass in at least a mid-size room.

But I disagree on two points. First, size does matter. A lot. That's basic physics. Second, many manufacturers CLAIM their bookshelf models are flat to below 50 Hz. But I have never, ever seen an independent test that confirmed those meaurements. Not once. Again, physics intervenes. You cannot get a lot of bass energy out of a small box. Even if the marketing department says you can.
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