People turn their subs up too loud.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stereophonicfan
What is your opinion?
lows however in a surround system are reproduced by a subwoofer. This device perhaps gives you all the bass and warmth you'll need but it's 'non-directional' sound. It doensn't really matter where you put the woofer, but is that really so? Is bass-sound non-directional?
Moving my sub just six inches in and direction greatly affects how it sounds. Currently I have it facing perpendicular to my speakers about 1 ft. away from the wall in on both sides. This seems to make the subwoofer less noticeable, that is I can't tell if the bass is coming from the sub or the speakers. Other tricks I have tried involve elevating the front tof the sub an inch higher than the rear, and placing the sub one foot behind the two front speakers.
The main problem with subs and music is that spekaers usually go down to about 35 Hz - 50 Hz. The sub then kicks in. The lowest note on a bass guitar is about 38 Hz. The lowest note on a piano is 28 Hz (I think). During musical passages a poorly set up sub can sound terrible. People tend to turn them up too loud and don't have the crossovers adjsuted properly. With my system if the sub is turned up too loud I notice that the lowest note on the bass guitar comes out on the sub, while the other notes come out on the main speakers. Sounds terrible.
As for listening to music with five speakers, I think multi-channel music is the future of home audio, but it has a LOOONGGGGGG way to go.
Uses the wall? What a concept
12hz seems mighty low for 8" but if Bose could reach 22 or 23 with a 4 inch, almost anything seems possible. You are right that nearly all music is well above this range but we are able to appreciate above and below what we can actually hear. It seems to change our perception of the music with low notes being felt, the highs seem more complicated but with speakers that are able to reach well above our hearing range, high notes seem more distinct. I can't really explain why I can hear a difference but it adds something.
I am a big fan of pipe organ and they do play very low (down to 8hz for a 64 foot pipe but these are rare). Some new bass guitars also reach quite low and some electronic sounds are also getting well below what many speaker systems are capable of. I like to get as much of the range as I can.
I believe Avantgarde claims 10hz for their big bass horns and I commend them for their efforts and innovations in horn design. They are quite expensive though.
Bill