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REAL subwoofers!
By Stig Erik Tangen
20 Mar 1996
Why subwoofers
A prominent trend in modern popular music is that most records gets more and deeper bass, and the mono bass ordinary before is replaced by real stereo bass. This change is mainly due to that the LP has disappeared. It is no longer necessary for producers to restrict the music to fit the LP-standard's limited low frequency capability. Now that the music industry have 'discovered' the low bass, it is also needed for the audiophile to be able to reproduce this low bass, to not loose an important part of the music on the records. Stereo bass is also necessary, which means you will have to use two subwoofers, not only one as you could before, with the LP's mono bass.
Records with musical information in the low bass does indeed become a physical experience with high quality subwoofers. Below 30 Hz, the physical impact, the FEEL of the low bass energy, is a lot more important than exactly hearing it. These subwoofers are able to reproduce the lowest note of a large church organ, which is 16.35 Hz. At this frequency, more than 100 dB is needed in order to hear anything, but the sound energy is sensed at considerably lower levels.
Concept
My subwoofers use two 25 cm (or 10" if you like) drivers in a vented box. They are designed with a low tuning frequency, ca. 17 Hz, in a moderate volume, 270 liters. They are are intended to be crossed rather low, 100 Hz is about the highest frequency I would recommend, at least with the box type shown here. I cross at 32 Hz, which is lower than most people would need to.
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