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
Considering the Via Wave Srt7 ribbon tweeter also a drop in replacement in my cabinet in combo with the Purifi. Crossover should be straightforward and simplistic.  Tom 
Hello mozartfan,

     I watched your YT video you attached on your post from yesterday. I liked your equipment, your choice of music tracks played and especially your cool cat Cleo. But c’mon man, your room is so bright we all need shades. I had listening fatigue by the end of your 34 minute video.
     I watched your video on my laptop but bypassed the computer’s inboard audio and listened via a combination of an external JDS Labs usb dac, Aune headphone amp and a pair of Sony Z7 headphones, an audio combo I would describe as accurate and detailed with a bit of warmth but never bright. I believe the brightness I heard is a result of an accurate representation of your very good system reproducing music in a substandard room.
     I describe your room as substandard because your room looks and sounds like it consists of 6 hard and highly sound reflective surfaces (ceiling, floor and 4 walls) with the only acoustic room treatment being a medium sized and thin rug on the floor, which apparently has no positive acoustic effect.
     Both of your speakers have been launching sound waves into this highly reflective and acoustically unfriendly environment/room from about 50 Hz on up, or about 27 Hz on up if you utilize the optional Merlin BAM electronic component-Bass Augmentation Module. The longer and omnidirectional bass sound waves under about 250 Hz behave much differently than the much shorter and unidirectional midrange and treble sound waves behave in your room.
     However, a common behavior of all sound waves is that they will continue moving at the speed of sound outward until they meet a hard and reflective room surfaced boundary such as a ceiling, floor or wall. At this point, the sound waves are redirected, bounce or are reflected off the hard surfaced boundary and continue on in this new direction until they encounter the next hard surfaced room boundary and are redirected once again. In a highly reflective room with many hard surfaced room boundaries, this process continues until the sound waves either encounter an acoustic room treatment or run out of energy. Here’s a pair of diagrams visualizing this process - just scroll down to the direct vs reflected sound diagrams on this linked page:

https://www.magicoaudio.com/news/magico-news-for-fall-2019

     As you can see, Magico estimates that about 80% of the sound you hear at your designated listening seat is reflected sound. Based on the brightness I heard on your video, you may be receiving even a higher percentage of reflected sound at your seat.
     If I was an audio doctor, I’d be admitting your room to the ICU right about now and calling your room’s next of kin. The bad news is your room is acoustically seriously ill. The good news is that your room’s not dead yet and there is a reasonably priced cure called acoustic room treatments. I suggest you visit the GIK Acoustics website linked below and request a free acoustic analysis of your room.

https://www.gikacoustics.com/acoustic-advice/?gclid=CjwKCAjw2a32BRBXEiwAUcugiOIH9bLbsRdKbH7SIwJe9I9n3ltBBVZk96n6Qk1nsiH2ZK3Q58nsiRoCUTAQAvD_BwE

     I’m in no way associated with GIK, just a very satisfied recent customer. I find it hard to imagine how you could possibly be perceiving the high quality, wide and deep, three dimensional stereo sound stage illusion, with solid and stable images of the musicians properly arranged and portrayed realistically within it, that I know your Merlin speakers are capable of creating when precisely positioned in relation to your listening seat.
     I believe you’re going to be amazed at the significant and dramatic improvements that an assortment of properly positioned, high quality acoustic room treatments actually make to your room and overall system sound quality performance.
     Sorry about sidetracking this thread a bit but I’m certain you’ll consider this reasonably priced investment a complete bargain once you experience the exceptionally positive results it provides.

Best wishes,
Tim
I have to agree the woofers in my beethovens are claimed 7” but are more like 5” and they’re tuned to play bass, limited spl for sure but clean and solid.
Right out of the box and into the cabinet these Purfi drivers are clearly better than my very nice Seas..sound as if I installed 
a highly articulate 10..As I type it opens up.. fun to hear and watch.. Dave G installed his today in his Merlins and has several hours on those. Maybe we will hear from him..These maybe the new king. Tom

Just wanted to mention, I've taken a quick peek at the SS Ellipticor measurements on the same sight and the IM distortion is almost as good as the Purifi. :) 

A shootout of these high end mid-woofers would be fascinating.