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

BTW, anyone notice how damn smooth that bass response is??


Ty GIK acoustics and a semi-open room. :)

There seems to be some confusion in a couple of post of bass vs sub bass,  as Erik posted,   he is 100 percent accurate. 

Looking at specifically a 6 1/2. 
There is a problem on moving air for real impact in larger rooms.... Of course Erik qualified Apartment dwellers or some home theater use. 
To get a 6 1/2 to truly go down (and you can),  it requires some mass to get the fs down, which kills sensitivity,  it then requires some good excursion limits and decent size coil to get some power handling..... Its a real balancing act to create a 6 1/2 that does it all as far as just a sub bass perspective.  
Of course multiple drivers move more air,  several 6 1/2's could make a very good sub.... I used multiple 4 inch at one time just to make a point.... I had several 4 inch in series/parallel configuration that would get into the mid 20's.  
In general,  a good 6 will get you into the mid 30's and do a very good job for bass through midrange until your room just gets too big and needs more cone area to move more air. 

long term, ive never been happy with 6 inch woofers. even if the bass at first is quite decent. tit has nothing to do with extension either. real bass need to move air

no replacement for displacement.

As we all know, most of the bass we hear (tone, texture, definition) occurs between 50-200 hz...which is easily done by any decent 6" woofer in almost any size room....so, I completely agree with Eric as he isn't saying that 6 inchers are the best sounding solution for every room and every situation...just that they may be better than you suspect.

I think we also have to remember that a 6" driver in a sealed box, vs a ported box vs a transmission line box is going to behave/sound different in each situation with the transmission line being the most likely to give the most toneful and powerful bass (but also the hardest to implement).


The bass we feel (and that which causes ear pressurization) can often be done by a 6" woofer...if the room is the correct size...even remembering that the loudness of the bass actually needs to be more than the mids/highs to create the proper sound balance.

The idea that there is no "replacement for displacement" probably holds true in bigger rooms...but even then, if you runs your mains at full range to get the great tone and if you have a sub, cross it below 40/50hz to get the feel and pressure...you get the best of both worlds...and having low bass, surprisingly, enhances the sense of ambience which adds realism.

I owned a pair of the well regarded Silverline Audio Preludes for years and they had an extremely coherent full range sound from D'Appolito arrayed 3.75" titanium/magnesium woofers. It seems that the overall design relative to how the cabinet interacts to bolster the low end is what's important, and those things went down to the mid 40s clearly. I only replaced them for higher efficiency needs (small single ended tube amp).