Speaker Asylum

RE: Looking to go "full range"

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Pat D

In Reply to: RE: Looking to go "full range" posted by Socrates7 on March 05, 2011 at 14:52:46

You could always get a good subwoofer, many of which will blow away most full range speakers in the low bass.

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"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser

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"full range" begins in the lower bass and midrange, not with a sub. - Robert C. Lang 17:19:13 03/09/11 (1)
*****You could always get a good subwoofer, many of which will blow away most full range speakers in the low bass******.

I have found that at a truly full range system is designed to be that way from the top down.
It takes far more than a good subwoofer to make for a speaker that is truly full range. I've been that route and have learned that "full range" begins in the lower bass and midrange.
Much of the music I listen to is "power" late Romantic/early 20th century classical music such as Mahler and Stravinsky and *huge* scale organ and choral music from Bach to Widor played at *speed* (important). This is the most demanding, with respect to system resources, especially with respect to the lower registers, of any genre I am familiar with, including rock.
It has been my experience that a smallish monitor+sub combo no matter how well endowed the sub may be cannot adequately handle this music at full force. This is because much of the shear force of this music is not confined to the sub range as many assume. On the contrary, much of the audible power is most heard in the range between about 100 Hz and, say, 500 Hz. This the Achilles heel of many speaker systems and is above where the typical sub works. The sub is working below the fray of where most speakers need the most help in demanding situations.
Moving from classical music to jazz music, the most authentic and most challenging recording (with respect to sound fidelity) of drums I have in my collection is the Hank Jones Trio "July 6th, Live at Birdland New York". This recording, played at realistic levels, presents a singular challenge never before experienced by my system by a drummer due in large part by the challenge to the mid-range. At times the rim shots, especially, are absolutely explosive and are of greatest challenge to midrange reproduction (and to the amp, too).
I have had the opportunity to play this recording, at speed, on several systems. Some form of mid-range compression with "July 6th, Live at Birdland New York" was the "norm". Except that the listener does not realize that is what has occurred because it does not sound necessarily "bad", just "normal". It may not be readily appararent that compression has occurred until the same disc is heard on a system that does not exhibit that sort of compression.
The paramount importance of the mid-range in reproducing the "power" aspects of recorded music, such as the pipe organ, for example, is too often given short shrift. Adding a subwoofer and crossing it over at 50hz, to a speaker that has a mid-range that cannot otherwise handle the power workload with minimal distortion, almost entirely misses the point as you have added reinforcement *beneath* the fray of what is often the greatest need; the mid-range.

Robert C. Lang

Edits: 03/09/11
- RE: "full range" begins in the lower bass and midrange, not with a sub. - Socrates7 18:08:07 03/09/11 (0)
  "The paramount importance of the mid-range in reproducing the "power" aspects of recorded music, such as the pipe organ, for example, is too often given short shrift. Adding a subwoofer and crossing it over at 50hz, to a speaker that has a mid-range that cannot otherwise handle the power workload with minimal distortion, almost entirely misses the point as you have added reinforcement *beneath* the fray of what is often the greatest need; the mid-range."
  
  My thoughts pretty much exactly. Thanks for elucidating.
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  Find me at: http://audiograb.wordpress.com
A fool an his money - tmsorosk 18:33:41 03/05/11 (0)
Pat .. This fool has a great hifi and listens to it every day . Do you think I would be happier with R.R.S.P.s .
" You can't take it with you , and the kids will only fight over it . " Tim Soroski

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