Understanding low-frequency reproduction....room or speaker


Hi all, I have a question about low-frequencies and whether my speakers are doing it or its my room.  Allow me to explain...

I own BMC PureVOX speakers, and in our living room space approximately 16x17 with open hallways and a half-wall (not a fully closed square area) if I play the opening track of the "Titanic" soundtrack the low-frequency effects will shake my wife's trinkets off the wall if I'm not careful with the volume.   This is with the speakers out into the room, about 8 feet apart, not close to side walls and at least 2+ feet from the wall behind them.

Just for info, the PureVOX is a bipolar speaker, aluminum cabinet, sealed enclosure, with (2) 6.9" kevlar drivers in addition to the AMT tweeters.  BMC does not provide frequency specs, I assume this is because measuring frequency response is less relevant with bipolar designs.

We recently went to hear the new B&W 802D3, just out of curiosity, and when listening to that same track the 802D3 barely produced any of that low-frequency effect.   This surprised me, because just in terms of size (and price) the 802D3 is in a different league - it's much larger than the PureVOX.

In trying to understand, I pulled up one of those websites where you can listen to low-frequency tones to test audio system boundaries, and on the PureVOX the test tone becomes audible in between 20hz and 30hz.   

So my question is...does this mean the PureVOX actually goes that low, OR is this all just a function of my living room size and configuration, which also explains why my speaker did something the much-larger 802D3 couldn't do?   In my smaller office, I know my Wilson Benesch Arcs sound fuller when they're closer to the wall, so I at least superficially understand wall proximity and room reinforcement and want to understand if that's also what's happening with the PureVOX.


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Showing 2 responses by geoffkait

Up next, why do headphones which have relatively tiny diaphragms and no space as rooms do have such outstanding bass response?
Just thought I mention that one reason why bass response is incorrect or bass shy is that the manufacturer of the speaker simply puts way too much stuffing inside, choking them.  Throw out most or all of the stuffing for best results.