music frequency

I like this chart from the PSB website. I believe that all frequencies are important. There are orchestra pieces that go down to 16 Hz and some that are only going down to 30 Hz. I believe that there are harmonics above and below the principle tone that are important and anything less is a significant compromise. Add a sub to get that low (integration difficulties assumed).

website:

http://www.psbspeakers.com/audioTopics.php?fpId=8&page_num=1&start=0

I agree Tgrisham! If you look at the orchestra and the various pieces in the orchestra rep there are many that go very low. There are extensions for the double bass that allow it to play the lowest "c" on the standard keyboard, which is about 33 htz. Also if you really listen to things like bass drums you would realize that the decay can produce noises that are well below 30 htz. Additionally, there are a select group of pianos, the Boesendorfer concert grand, that have freqency extensions down to 16htz...Now the only written piece that intends to use these extra pitches were written specifically for this piano, but don't you want to have the capibility to hear every note as it was intended to be heard in the concert hall??? I actually had the opportunity to give a recital with a Bosendorfer concert grand, and I can honestly say that I enjoy its sound much more than your standard Steinway...Without the ability for your system to reproduce even the sympathetic low vibrations of any instrument, you will never be able to acheive the actual sound and hear any instrument for what it really is!

Beware of the Black & White viewpoint that more LF extension is necessarily better....really it is more of a "gray" area. Extreme LF can be better if DONE CORRECTLY AND CAREFULLY using SPL measurements and careful Room design/treatments and a smidgen of EQ, however, in many cases extreme LF may actually be detrimental to the overall sound at LF and may even cloud some of the mid range detail.

See this interesting demonstration about hearing perception at Southhampton University, which should be considered when looking at the chart suggested by Tgrisham.

http://www.isvr.soton.ac.uk/SPCG/Tutorial/Tutorial/Tutorial_files/Web-hearing.htm

It shows how the pitch of an instrument can still be heard even if the loudspeaker lacks the ability to play the fundamental frequency!

The higher harmonics (or partials) allow one to hear the pitch of the played note.

The timbre of the note will, however, be affected by the relative magnitudes of the fundamental AND all the partials and how they decay.

Since room modes (also covered on this website) become severe at very low frequencies (easily up to 15 db boosts and nulls in most cases) then a flat speaker frequency response down to extreme LF may not necessarily be desirable. The room may alter the timbre of low notes more adversely than the loudspeaker response curve....no matter the cost/quality of the loudspeaker!

Therefore, with typical modest room sizes, a well designed speaker with less impressive LF extension can often outperform in LF timbre another speaker with greater LF extension.

There is actually quite a lot on this website that may interest audiogoners.

I have heard a number of pipe organ recitals in large churches, e.g. Stanford Memorial, and small, our little local 100+ year old Episcopal church has a fine pipe organ. The Velodyne HGS-15 sub gives that nearly inaudible but clearly felt sensation you get when a big pipe is opened. Though my KEF 104/2s can go much lower, I find their sound more open and airy when LF below 80 Hz is handed off to the sub.

I think what some of the earlier posters were alluding to is combination tones that can arise from the beating among harmonics, generating energy at lower (audible) frequencies. But Eldartford makes a good point: The sound pressure levels of higher harmonics are comparatively low, and combination tones from such even lower.

db

The recording that I have with the most extensive very low frequency signal is a Wurlitzer theatre organ CD from Organ Stop Pizza (in Mesa Arizona...great place to visit). There is a continuous background at uniform level down to the 20 Hz 1/3 octave band of my spectrum analyser. Is this good? Well maybe yes, and maybe no. It is the real sound of the wind generation machinery of the organ, and if it were not there the reproduced sound would not match a live performance. But maybe this sound is a distraction, and some folk might prefer to have it gone.