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There's a lot more bass in a 6.5" driver than most of you think

One topic of discussion I often see new audiophiles touch on is whether to get larger speakers for more bass.

I usually suggest they tune the room first, then re-evaluate. This is based on listening and measurement in several apartments I’ve lived in. Bigger speakers can be nothing but trouble if the room is not ready.


In particular, I often claim that the right room treatment can make smaller speakers behave much larger. So, to back up my claims I’d like to submit to you my recent blog post here:

https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-snr-1-room-response-and-roon.html


Look at the bass response from those little drivers! :)


I admit for a lot of listeners these speakers won’t seem as punchy as you might like, but for an apartment dweller who does 50/50 music and theater they are ideal for me. If you’d like punchy, talk to Fritz who aligns his drivers with more oomf in the bass.


erik_squires

Showing 1 response by snapsc

snapsc
687 posts
 
As we all know, most of the bass we hear (tone, texture, definition) occurs between 50-200 hz...which is easily done by any decent 6" woofer in almost any size room....so, I completely agree with Eric as he isn't saying that 6 inchers are the best sounding solution for every room and every situation...just that they may be better than you suspect.

I think we also have to remember that a 6" driver in a sealed box, vs a ported box vs a transmission line box is going to behave/sound different in each situation with the transmission line being the most likely to give the most toneful and powerful bass (but also the hardest to implement).


The bass we feel (and that which causes ear pressurization) can often be done by a 6" woofer...if the room is the correct size...even remembering that the loudness of the bass actually needs to be more than the mids/highs to create the proper sound balance.

The idea that there is no "replacement for displacement" probably holds true in bigger rooms...but even then, if you runs your mains at full range to get the great tone and if you have a sub, cross it below 40/50hz to get the feel and pressure...you get the best of both worlds...and having low bass, surprisingly, enhances the sense of ambience which adds realism.
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