So I am looking at a change of speakers and I emailed the designer with my room size and amplification but he has recommended a cheaper smaller model, it appears his decision is based somewhat on the grounds that super sensitive speakers work best with low wattage valve amps not hi power amps. I did call the designer of my amps and he was a bit perplexed but said he could understand the thought process but did not elaborate. So what is the science behind this? The other thing I dont understand is he says the smaller one will produce more bass in a smaller room, but its the same design all be it with a 10" instead of 12" driver. Dont get me wrong this guy has earned his stars so i dont want to brush this off, I just want to understand. Here is the explanation on the bass section of the speakers Im looking at. I am particularly intrigued by the claim that this design can have the best bass in a big room and because a small room has less floor space it will not produce so much bass and therefore still produce "strong" articulate bass. They sound like my dream speakers.....
Bass Horns
The Bastanis line of passive powered speakers uses backloaded floor- firing bass-horn cabinets. This sounds complicated but there is an easy explanation which shows the big advantages of backloaded bass-horns for passive powered speakers.
- The horn transforms the air- movement from the drivers cones to a much bigger surface at the horn-mouth. This increases the possible max. dynamics enormously because for the same spl as without the horn there is a small percentage of cone- movement only.
- This also means that the amount of physical damping of the drivers resonance by the load of air is much bigger and so the required electrical damping is extremely low which is very good for the soundquality of tubed amps.
- The increased physical resistance of the basses coming from bass-horn cabinets is the only way to give high efficient passive powered speakers strong bass- response with the same efficiency as the midrange, any conventional sealed or bass-reflex cabinets could offer the basses with much lower efficiency only.
- The floor firing bass-horns are a big step up from the usual giant bass-horns because they work as well offering efficient, fundamental and dynamic basses from cabinets with common dimensions.
- The floor firing bass-horns react self- adjusting to the room and the placement, big rooms mean big floor- space, big virtual opening of the horn-mouth and so maximum contribution of the basses. Smaller room- spaces and close to wall- placement means smaller floor- space, smaller virtual horn-mouth and less contribution of the basses, so the bass- response stays strong and clean.
The Bastanis floor- firing bass-horn speakers are the most excellent way to get the unlimited basses you always were looking for combined with high efficiency, compact sized cabinets and self- adjusting characteristics.
