How Many Inches?

[pseudoid]

Americans have been said to prefer "big" things like big trucks, big homes, big TVs, etc.
Texans like 'em even bigger than the rest of the citizens... for some reason.
We also tend to think that Europeans are of another mindset that is polar opposite of ours.

When it comes to size of speakers; it's possible that bragging about 12inch woofers just does not have as much punch as saying 30cm woofer.
You think?

 

[Chrispy]

I have speakers with woofers/mid-woofers of 3", 4", 5.25", 6.5", 7", 8",12", subs in the range of 8", 10", 12", 15" and 18". Centimeters could be more impressive but you did ask for inches

 

[Sokel]

When it comes to size of speakers; it possible that bragging about 12inch woofers just does not have as much punch as saying 30cm woofer.
You think?

When it comes to woofer I like to go by VC as is my metric to distinguish big boys and adequate enough.
3" is a good start

 

[DonH56]

There are many trades and diameter is but one. A larger driver may need less excursion but it is harder to make the cone stiff (though stiffer often means more mass which often leads to lower resonance). A number of smaller drivers may well produce lower distortion and greater output than a single large driver, or not. I tend to look at sensitivity, frequency response, distortion (if in the specs, usually is not), and max output. Rarely driver size.

If you must, here is the largest driver I have read about: https://alex-audio.com/en/prod/world-biggest-speaker/ May be hard to fit in the average listening room, especially since you probably want to have 2-4 located properly to reduce the impact of room modes.

For the poll, my speakers have three 8" woofers, about the same area as a single 14" cone.

How low is low, how large is large, etc.

 

[Pearljam5000]

No one here with crazy sized woofers like this 50 inch sub ?

 

[Sancus]

However looking at the speakers on the market, even high end ones, we see A LOT of 6.5" drivers and some 8". Often they are stacked in high end models.

Most non-pro, non-PA speakers sold these days are designed to at least fit in a HT, if not for that purpose specifically. So the width of a speaker is REALLY important, because you're often flanking a huge TV with limited space. Multiple smaller woofers provide a much narrower baffle without too much sacrifice in capability compared to one large woofer.

 

[mmshah]

My mains are a 12", 8", 5" 1" 4-way speakers, complemented with 15" subs.

 

[EJ3]

Reading forums it is easy to see many vocal people saying big woofers are better, no replacement for displacement etc..

However looking at the speakers on the market, even high end ones, we see A LOT of 6.5" drivers and some 8". Often they are stacked in high end models. I guess these manufacturers have done their research and know what he market actually buys. Or perhaps its nothing to do with that and just a desire to reduce unique BOM.

So I'm really curious to ask how big are the woofers in your current speakers? Are there multiple and do you use a subwoofer? What people recommend and what they actually use might be different based on practical circumstances!

My mains are +-2 Db 26 Hz-20 KHz (the plus is from 40 Hz-60 Hz) with 8" mid-woofers. But they are sitting on a pair (one for each main) of 12" 'custom by me' floor firing subs crossed over at 80 Hz. Each main (6 ohms nominal) is powered by it's own amp
& each dual 4 ohm voice coil sub is powered by it's own bridged mono amp.
Why? Because I like bass that you can feel (whether you can hear it or not).
Will it reach 16 Hz? I have yet to prove that it does, although I know that it will deliver 20HZ.

 

[napilopez]

I love small speakers. Granted, I live in a small NYC apartment but even if I lived in a house I think I'd still have relatively small speakers. I just bought a pair of JBL L52s (5-inch woofers) that I hope do the trick with a sub.

For me personally a small speaker is more convincing for the visual part of the soundstage illusion. And there's something really satisfying to me about getting bigger sound than you'd expect out of small speakers plus a sub or two. In general though, I don't like having way more speaker than I actually need (I recognize that many have precisely the opposite philosophy!).

That said, I fully agree with @dfuller that the wider baffle and greater directivity in midrange/lower midrange is one of the main benefits of big speakers. As I think I talked about in the "why do speakers sound big" thread, I wouldn't be surprised if that were one of the biggest contributing factors for this.

Still, I haven't been convinced enough that big speakers do sound better over a decent 2.1+ system at listening levels within the smaller speaker's comfort zone, so I prefer to avoid the excess.

 

[EJ3]

For impact (chest thump) you can feel I find 8"-12" to be the sweet spot. My home theater system has Klipsch RF-82 II up front along with dual 15" subs. The subs go low but impact comes out of the Klipsch's. My stereo has a pair of Von Schweikert VR-5 Anniversaries with dual 9" in a transmission line. They provide palpable impact. As early as the 1980's I found Cerwin-Vegas with 12" woofers hit harder than the 15 inchers. Just my 2 cents...

Martin

A female friend has a pair of Cerwin Vegas with 12" woofers (don't know the model) but, yes, they hit hard!
She say's that she enjoys annoying her neighbors.
And her closest neighbors are at least 70 feet (23 meters) away.
Of course, she opens her windows & sits on the porch.

 

[Flaesh]

15" bassless woofer+2way 1.4" tweeter. And four 18" subs.

3" is a good start

For example, 3" VC:

or 4" VC:

 

[Totoro]

2 1.5 in compression drivers, 2 15 in woofers, 1 12 in subwoofer

 

[DonH56]

No one here with crazy sized woofers like this 50 inch sub ?View attachment 349477

I linked to an 80-incher, small-timer, in the post above yours.

https://alex-audio.com/en/prod/world-biggest-speaker/

 

[Prana Ferox]

Everything is compromise and tradeoff. All of these are generalizations:

- Larger woofers are going to beam and have breakup modes at lower frequencies. necessitating lower crossover points. You are more likely to need a mid driver and/or HF waveguide
- Larger woofers and larger baffles generally make for a speaker harder to integrate into the decor
- Larger woofers can make for a larger speaker that costs more to store and ship
- Larger woofers tend to be more efficient, albeit optimization for lower frequency response eats at this
- Larger woofers do not necessarily negate the need for subs, especially for home theater work
- Smaller drivers can make up the difference by increasing xmax, but that has linearity and efficiency costs, as well as literally making the driver more expensive.
- You can run multiple smaller drivers to get the displacement, again more complex and expensive, but slimmer baffles may be worth it (see interior decor comment above.) It also looks more modern 'cool' to have a big wall of drivers, so this is a very popular design type for modern towers
- Use of multiple and/or xmax-optimized smaller-diameter drivers may require the same big cabinet volume as a bigger driver, albeit possibly in a more pleasing shape. Alternately phrased, cabinet size is largely a function of low-end extension and desired SPL, not driver diameter. Iron Law wins again
- Extremely generalized, surface area x wattage = Volume. Absolutely you can get desired frequency response from a smaller driver if you're willing to reduce the needed SPL (or get closer, see: headphones) You can also just absolutely dump wattage into smaller drivers if they're built for it, although the motor can end up getting so big that making the cone smaller becomes pointless. Stuff like 'punch' or 'chest thump' may require a minimum volume level, though.

 

[jhaider]

So I'm really curious to ask how big are the woofers in your current speakers? Are there multiple and do you use a subwoofer?

Main system: 8” in LCR and height, multiple 2”
(I think) in surrounds. Plus multiple subs

2 channel system: 8” plus multiple small subs

Desktop: 5.25” plus multiple subs

 

[JSmith]

No one here with crazy sized woofers like this 50 inch sub ?View attachment 349477

Just makes me think of this.

JSmith

 

[Deleted member 48726]

The woofers in my "main" front "stereo" speakers are 12-inches. And I have a pair of 15-inch subs.

I don't think you can get "realistic" bass you can feel in your body from 8-inch woofers, but maybe some can do it.


Two 8-inchers have about the same cone area as a 12-inch. And typically, smaller drivers can go higher in frequency which can be an advantage, especially in a 2-way. And narrower speakers fit better into a living room.

FYI - A separate subwoofer is REQUIRED for the separate "point one" LFE channel in home theater. The other channels contain the "regular bass" which can optionally be routed to the sub with "bass management", but the LFE is not included in the stereo downmix.

2 x 8" ~ 648 cm2
1 x 12" ~ 729 cm2 ~ 12 % more area

I'd say a sub is not required for surround duties. If your mains are large enough you can route the LFE content to those.

 

[Pinkynator]

How loud do you listen to your music to, and/or do you have any neighbors? With all the talk about subwoofers hitting you in the chest... Damn, people, don't come live close to me!

I have a small Focal Cub and I set it up following the general non-manufacturer instructions that say "put your ears next to the sub and increase its volume until you can hear a little bit of something".

 

[Rhamnetin]

9" in my ADAM Audio S3Vs but if I had to do it all over again I'd instead get the same priced Gennies which happen to have smaller 6.75" x 3.5" woofers.

 

[Chrispy]

Just makes me think of this.

JSmith

Which in turn reminds me of the Myth Busters large sub episode....