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Subwoofers make all big speakers obsolete?

Pearljam5000

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As a kid I always dreamed about the huge towers with a big woofer or even several bass drivers.
But I'm wondering now that subs are priced OK for 10-15 inch and it's possible to add one to each channel, are all the big speakers obsolete?
So a small speaker /monitor combined with a sub basically have the same woofer power as the big guys for much less €€€
What am I missing here?
 
As a kid I always dreamed about the huge towers with a big woofer or even several bass drivers.
But I'm wondering now that subs are priced OK for 10-15 inch and it's possible to add one to each channel, are all the big speakers obsolete?
So a small speaker /monitor combined with a sub basically have the same woofer power as the big guys for much less €€€
What am I missing here?
The woofer reproduce a part of the mid.
 
it depends on the SPL you need/want.
in PA you have mains that focus on the range above 100Hz-ish....unfortunatly you don't realy have this stuff in home audio. the small speakers are designed to "sound big" (on low-ish volume)....not as a complement to a subwoofer.
the only manufacturer having this kind of concept for home audio products is JBL afaik
 
it depends on the SPL you need/want.
in PA you have mains that focus on the range above 100Hz-ish....unfortunatly you don't realy have this stuff in home audio. the small speakers are designed to "sound big" (on low-ish volume)....not as a complement to a subwoofer.
the only manufacturer having this kind of concept for home audio products is JBL afaik
Yes a lot of bass reflex designs, luckily you can seal the port and do near-field bass measurements and move on with your life.
 
I used to own ML Ascent on my small room. 10"inch woofer. down to 35Hz. Really enough for me. Now my woofer is 8 inch. Consider adding sub. Not in a hurry.
 
Let me just randomly find a speaker

This thing is 15-inch and it is rated down to 65Hz

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Size is not the key in the definition of a subwoofer. Role and application is.
 
What designs have highest SPL (with low distortion of course)?
Well the answer is not so simple.

A 12" woofer would need one fourth of the excursion to produce the same note as a 6" woofer at the same SPL. So more surface / cone area is obviously more beneficial than excursion.

But there are some high excursion, low distortion designs like the Purifi woofers.
 
Well the answer is not so simple.

A 12" woofer would need one fourth of the excursion to produce the same note as a 6" woofer at the same SPL. So more surface / cone area is obviously more beneficial than excursion.

But there are some high excursion, low distortion designs like the Purifi woofers.
Right, but if you have equal cone area? For ex. 4x 10 ich or 1x 15 inch will have higher SPL at given THD? This subject is very interesting in building no-compromise DIY speakers...
 
as I know in every speaker you can just do a butterworth filter at 80hz and seal the port and now you can just add 2 subs
 
To your Question: Yes. Active Subs have many advantages over Full Range Speakers.
 
Right, but if you have equal cone area? For ex. 4x 10 ich or 1x 15 inch will have higher SPL at given THD? This subject is very interesting in building no-compromise DIY speakers...
It's really just simple math. here is a link where you can put whatever parameters you wish and compare: http://www.baudline.com/erik/bass/xmaxer.html

The lower the Xmax required the more likely the distoriton would be lower.
 
In theory, yes. In practice, not really. Or not always.

1. Small speakers often require stands, which take up the same footprint floorstanding speakers do.
2. Properly integrating a sub is not trivial for most people.
3. Even though I have two well-integrated subs in my media room, I normally do my stereo listening without them, because I just prefer that sound for some reason.
4. Not every room has space for subs. I run BMRs in my office, because they hit down to 27Hz in-room and do not need subs at my listening levels, as I have nowhere to place subs.
 
To your Question: Yes. Active Subs have many advantages over Full Range Speakers.
Subs also has disadvantages.

They are designed to operate below around 100Hz, which cause strain on the small speakers at high levels. Also achieving correct low pass filter at that frequencies is complicated as the small speaker’s fc is near the crossover frequency.

Finally, even if you have custom stands to place the small speakers on top of the subwoofers, the floor area is much larger than a floor stander’s.
 
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