The bottom octave: how important? - Feanor - General Asylum

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The bottom octave: how important?

I'm refering to music -- or sound other sound content -- in the range of, say, 25Hz to 50Hz. Apart from pipe organ there are relatively few instruments that have actual notes in that range. Most significantly is the accoustic string bass whose lowest note is 42Hz, (I think). Among orchestral instruments, I understand the double bassoon goes lower, (30-something Hz?), but this is less commonly used.
Many, many popular and well-regarded speakers don't go much below 50Hz, including my Magneplanar MMGs. Note the MMGs a flat to 50Hz and roll off sharply below that. Yesterday I got my PSB Subsonic 6 subwoofer hooked up (after being unable to use it for a few weeks). I connected my preamp directly to my main amp and thence to the MMGs without a high-pass filter. Note that my main amp is a Phase Linear 400 with upgrade power supply capacitors, and puts out 360 watts at 4 ohms with damping factor -- the point is that I'm getting all the bass the MMGs deliver. I also connected to preamp to the sub setting its low-pass at 50Hz. I noticed a lot of output from the sub notwithstanding supposedly few "notes" in the range below 50Hz: what's going on?
Classical orchestral music selections sounded much better, having much more "body", e.g. Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Scheherazade', 4th movement, on Reference Recording's RR-89CD. Same for jazz I listen to, e.g. Dave Brubeck "Time Out" on stereo SACD, track 3, "Take Five", where the drums sounded much more solid and real.

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Topic - The bottom octave: how important? - Feanor 10:00:53 11/02/03 (15)

It's important but.... - A.J. 10:01:48 11/03/03 (0)

Re: The bottom octave: how important? - Werner 06:01:29 11/03/03 (0)

DC to light - oldroadie 16:36:56 11/02/03 (0)

Re: The bottom octave: how important? - Matts 14:30:35 11/02/03 (3)

below the fundamental? - bstan 13:55:09 11/04/03 (1)

Re: below the fundamental? Definitely! - Matts 18:32:31 11/04/03 (0)

Clarinet and French horn - RBP 14:57:21 11/03/03 (0)

Very - John C. - Aussie 13:02:09 11/02/03 (0)

Re: The bottom octave: how important? - RBP 12:05:15 11/02/03 (1)

Thanks, RBP. Interesting to hear your approach - Feanor 07:03:53 11/03/03 (0)

Re: The bottom octave: how important? - MarkgM 10:25:59 11/02/03 (0)

Re: The bottom octave: how important? - tom1356 10:25:18 11/02/03 (3)

A second sub: now there's a thought - Feanor 11:06:55 11/02/03 (2)

Re: A second sub: now there's a thought - warnerwh 18:33:32 11/02/03 (1)

I agree <nt> - badman 18:34:27 11/03/03 (0)

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