Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Bass and room size

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Think of the room as a giant horn/tube resonator that acts at bass frequencies. The room can add a great deal of gain to a speakers' bass response. So, speakers that measure flat in the bass in an anechoic chamber will show dramatic peaks and dips due to room boundary effects. The additional gain can set off boomy sounding room harmonics (adding further large peaks and nulls). Speakers which measure flat in an anechoic chamber can set off a cascade reaction in a highly echoic space like a typical small room leading to boomy, out-of control bass.

The most practical way to control these problems is to taper the bass off with decreasing frequency, so that the room adds just enough gain to achieve deep but flat response without getting out of control. The speaker's bass curve must be carefully matched to a room of a specific size. Large, full-range speakers often need large rooms to achieve this delicate balancing act unless the designer has aggressively damped the bass end of the speaker.


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  • Bass and room size - layman 13:37:57 05/22/03 (0)


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