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There's a lot more bass in a 6.5" driver than most of you think

One topic of discussion I often see new audiophiles touch on is whether to get larger speakers for more bass.

I usually suggest they tune the room first, then re-evaluate. This is based on listening and measurement in several apartments I’ve lived in. Bigger speakers can be nothing but trouble if the room is not ready.


In particular, I often claim that the right room treatment can make smaller speakers behave much larger. So, to back up my claims I’d like to submit to you my recent blog post here:

https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-snr-1-room-response-and-roon.html


Look at the bass response from those little drivers! :)


I admit for a lot of listeners these speakers won’t seem as punchy as you might like, but for an apartment dweller who does 50/50 music and theater they are ideal for me. If you’d like punchy, talk to Fritz who aligns his drivers with more oomf in the bass.


erik_squires
jon_5912
579 posts
 
In my experience small woofers are not satisfying for long.  There's something wrong with the punch they produce.  Small woofer speakers that produce deep bass rely heavily on port output and that is slow and low resolution.  I don't think you need a huge woofer but 8" is the minimum for reasonably deep bass and punch that can satisfy long-term.  Surface area is very important.  
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kenjit
1,771 posts
 
one reviewer was astounded to see usable bass frequency output down to about 31.5 hz
The woofer would need to move a huge distance to do that. Why push a small woofer to its limit when you could just use a bigger woofer? Do you think you can have your cake and eat it?
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
1,984 posts
 
I’m just stating what they found when reviewing the speaker (the 225’s) and in my own listening room I have to agree that Peter comeau (the designer) did a hell of a job with the budget he had to work with to design a speaker that can satisfy most. As herb Reichert put it, it’s an audio conissuer component.
Certainly there are of course better speakers! But for $449 you will be hard pressed to find one that sounds this good for that kind of cash outlay period.
To me, I find it far more satisfying and rewarding to not have to spend a fortune yet get a large slice of audio heaven. I grin every time I listen to these darn things, they are hard to walk away from and just keep you wanting to listen...I think that is what this hobby is supposed to be about really. Not who spent the most on this and that. You do not need to spend a ton to get quality, not in today’s hifi world.
There are numerous components I could list that fit this mold, including the outstanding Hana EL cartridge, the discontinued Shure m97xe cartridge. the musical fidelity v90 dac, and the AKG k550 headphones to name a few. Ton of quality for not a lot of dough.....another one was the marantz pm6005, a killer integrated amp that I unfortunately sold. 
hawkrider0
1 posts
 
I heard a Devialet Phantom today.  It's a $3k, 4500W bluetooth speaker that absolutely blew my mind.  The two bass "engines" are about 6-7' diameter.  Frequency response is a real 14Hz (-6dB).  Very impressive for its size.  You should've seen the excursion on those drivers!  
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