Punch and Low Bass
Wright,
Several issues to consider, but low bass, high efficiency, and enclosure size are closely interrelated. The simple solution to retain a reasonable enclosure size is to use less efficient drivers and more power. But, headroom is still needed.
The same holds true for designing a driver. Efficiency, excursion, Bl curves, and Qs are interrelated to the extent that to gain one thing you usually lose something else, making it difficult to achieve high efficiency, medium Qs, high excursion, low Vas and Fs all in the same subwoofer package. But every year it gets better and Adire has made big improvements.
Low inductance, too, is all important for good transient response/ acceleration (poorly named "fast bass") and lower distortion. This is nearly as important as the tuning Q of the enclosure, IMO.
Sretin
WRT punch, the fundamental has to have impact for realism, at whatever the frequency. Dynamics. Most pro sound rigs didn't go below 40 Hz, although this is changing, but still did kick drums well. Smack in the chest well.
The other part of the point was the high frequency portion of the signal. Try playing just your sub while listening to kick drum. There is no "edge" to the impact - just a muffled facsimile. You need to reproduce the high freq components to get the punch right. So, even if the fundamental falls below the crossover, a good deal of information needs to reproduced accurately above the crossover for the "event" to sound right. Phase needs to be maintained through the crossovers.
The really curious thing I have found is that people seem to gravitate toward musical tastes best displayed by, but also limited to, what their system does well. Whether unintentionally or by design, owners of 6.5" 85 dB two-ways yield up a big collection of "little girl with guitar" CDs followed by jazz trios. They may not even realize they have imposed limits on their own enjoyment.
I like "Trinity Sessions" too. Try "Five Days in July"
Tim
Wright,
Several issues to consider, but low bass, high efficiency, and enclosure size are closely interrelated. The simple solution to retain a reasonable enclosure size is to use less efficient drivers and more power. But, headroom is still needed.
The same holds true for designing a driver. Efficiency, excursion, Bl curves, and Qs are interrelated to the extent that to gain one thing you usually lose something else, making it difficult to achieve high efficiency, medium Qs, high excursion, low Vas and Fs all in the same subwoofer package. But every year it gets better and Adire has made big improvements.
Low inductance, too, is all important for good transient response/ acceleration (poorly named "fast bass") and lower distortion. This is nearly as important as the tuning Q of the enclosure, IMO.
Sretin
WRT punch, the fundamental has to have impact for realism, at whatever the frequency. Dynamics. Most pro sound rigs didn't go below 40 Hz, although this is changing, but still did kick drums well. Smack in the chest well.
The other part of the point was the high frequency portion of the signal. Try playing just your sub while listening to kick drum. There is no "edge" to the impact - just a muffled facsimile. You need to reproduce the high freq components to get the punch right. So, even if the fundamental falls below the crossover, a good deal of information needs to reproduced accurately above the crossover for the "event" to sound right. Phase needs to be maintained through the crossovers.
The really curious thing I have found is that people seem to gravitate toward musical tastes best displayed by, but also limited to, what their system does well. Whether unintentionally or by design, owners of 6.5" 85 dB two-ways yield up a big collection of "little girl with guitar" CDs followed by jazz trios. They may not even realize they have imposed limits on their own enjoyment.
I like "Trinity Sessions" too. Try "Five Days in July"
Tim