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Stereophile Class A and Frequency Response

According to the Recommended Components Loudspeaker section in Stereophile, "to be eligible for inclusion in Class A, the system must be full range- ie feature bass extension to 20Hz."

I then noticed that the B&W 802D which is in Class A has a frequency response of 34Hz–28kHz (as mentioned in Stereophile's report on the speaker), which is nowhere near 20Hz.

Why is this speaker included in Class A?
smeyers
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Does Stereophile specify what the deviation from 'flat' can be at 20hz and still qualify for 'Class A'? Perhaps your 802's fall within their range. Normally one thinks of +/- 3db when talking about a frequency response range, but for example down 6db (or even more, depending on your room size)20hz is still excellent output. FWIW.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
Don't they have Class A fullrange, and Class A non-fullrange?...they used to?

I have not bought Stereophile in a few years.

Dave
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Yes they still have 'Full Range' and 'Restricted Extreme LF', the B&W 802D's are listed under 'Full Range' which does have the 20 Hz stipulation. Yes the B&W 802D specs are 34Hz-28Khz +/- 3 db.

My guess, as with all things Stereophile, would be that advertising dollars speak louder than guidelines.

Cheers,
John
smeyers OP
181 posts
 
The frequency response graph in the Stereophile review suggests a -3 db point a little lower than 34Hz, but clearly nowhere near 20Hz. I find this disturbing that Stereophile would put the speaker in this category.
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