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How do small woofers produce large bass?

Hi All,

I am looking at loudspeakers... I currently own the Arendal 1723 THX Monitors. 2 8" woofers each. I listen to probably 80% home theater and 20% pure two-channel music of all sorts. I am contemplating upgrading the speakers, and there are a number that I am very interested in. The Arendals are killer for music and home theater. In fact crazy amazing at home theater. I have also 2 SVS SB-3000 subs. 

But as we all know, wanting to upgrade. blah blah ad nauseum.  :) 
 And most everything I’m looking at has 6.5" bass drivers, usually 2 per speaker. I am looking at the Acoustic Energy Corinium, the KEF R11 Meta, the Dali Opticon 8 MKII, and the PSB T600.

I have a fear that the bass will be plenty for two-channel music, but won’t have that bad-ass slam of the Arendal’s dual 8" drivers. So my question is sort of a scientific one or a physics one. I am baffled as to how the 6.5" drivers in all of these new speakers are going to produce home theater sized bass. I’ve watched every video, read every article about those 4 contenders (above) - and everything/everybody says essentially "no worries, the woofers are lighter and faster, and since there are two of them, they make a great deal of bass. I just think I’m not seeing the "science" or "physics" of that. Like how are these 6.5" drivers going to handle something incredibly powerful/dynamic (bomb blasts/gun shots/thunder/explosions etc etc???  I’m afraid I’ll be let down by something like the PSB T600’s or the KEF R11 Metas when head to head with the dual 8" drivers in my Arendals. I’m hoping people can assure me and/or run through the science....  thanks to all.    Oh, and yes, I do cross over to my two subs at 60Hz.   

audiotruth
dekay's avatar
dekay
6,195 posts
 

You can always add bass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuE4qxOcluk. 

DeKay

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
4,574 posts
 

I have a pair of stand mounts with a 6.5" woofer in an acoustic suspension design.  They don't go very low but the bass is impressive.   The quantity and quality is amazing given their size.They like a lot more power than the speaker they replaced.    

rbstehno
1,631 posts
 

With the info gathered from the OP, we can’t give him good advice until we know the room dimensions/size. If it’s a 10x10’ room, go with small woofers, if it’s a 20x13’ go bigger. Also, the OP wants 2 different outputs from 1 set of speakers, high output with a lot of bass for HT, but then real clean bass for music. Very hard to do. I am for separating the 2 environments to 2 different rooms with different systems.

I prefer the cleaner bass of smaller woofers (a few per speaker) instead of 1 larger woofers and get a real good sub that is tuned that you can’t tell that’s even on. 
 

Not sure about your subs, but with REL subs, you can hook up both a LFE connection and a high level connection off the amp. You can configure both inputs differently so you can still get slam from HT but clean bass for music

ronboco
1,117 posts
 

@audiotruth 

You didn’t mention your room which will be a big factor how the bass response is but a transmission line speaker is one design that can produce deep bass with small drivers. As far as new speaker recommendations I suggest you audition Rockport Avior ii speakers. They are incredible and would be an endgame speaker. Good luck !
 

 

corelli
1,170 posts
 

The only way a smaller driver keeps up with a larger one when producing low bass is to increase it's excursion--plain and simple

However, there is always a price to pay.  Higher excursion demands much more power from your amp AND there is a limit to excursion AND the more the excursion the more the distortion.  

The mid bass impact issue is much more complicated as other factors enter into that equation. 

In the end you will need an audition in your own system.

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