Small drivers vs big drivers

@shadorne

Did you mean sound realistic, or feel realistic?
I ask because I am always curious how much we actually listen through our skin than our ears.

@erik_squires

I think we hear it but you are right in the sense that it isn’t really a change in the sustained note of the kick. It isn’t because there are more lower frequencies present - more a time coherence thing - the slap of the head with the kick pedal is matched by a very low frequency room compression that the ears “feel” more than hear - like descending in an aeroplane but infinitely faster. It is very useful to clearly distinguish kick from bass guitar. A timbral effect caused by a time coherent transient.

You won’t get this effect from a ported subwoofer but you can get it from a sealed one like a JL sub.

There is a huge amount of detail in the bass range - most bookshelf ported designs can sound enjoyable but fail completely at conveying this detail or texture. All Headphones fail too. Maybe feeling does have something to do with the effect - our bones would pick this pressure or LF up too.

Good point fellas. The inability of home playback systems to recreate the physical sensation of live music is one of the most serious remaining failings of the recording/playback process. Reproduced music sounds too cerebral, the brain being fed information mostly through the ears, not the largest organ in the human body---the skin. I wonder if future centuries will look back at this period of hi-fi development as we do the Edison cylinder.

The question is a bit broad and could cover a large response with respect to the advantage and disadvantage of large vs. small driver. 

First I don't think the OP was interested in line array.  It's a different class of speakers all together.  I think he was referring to for example having 2x7in drivers vs. one large 10in driver.  I don't think the reason of using line array is because one needs that many drivers to replace a single 15in. driver.  Line array is not meant to compensate for low end response.

In general a large driver will have more bass response but lacking the transient speed of a smaller driver.  So what you would do is having two smaller drivers to get the same bass response of a larger driver, but retain the transient of a smaller driver.  Also in general, a small mid range driver (2in or 3in) will have better midrange transient speed compared to a 5.5in or 6.5in driver, but the larger midrange driver will have more weight in the lower midrange especially on the male voice reproduction.

Large drivers also have the benefit lower distortion since it does not have to move a lot to generate the same amount of pressure vs. a smaller driver but of course you need to mix and match driver size since there is no single driver that can play the entire freq. range.   

A lot of general information here.
first, you can make a small driver go below 20hz. We did it several times back in my old Marcof Electronic Days. We started with a 91db 8 inch peerless driver, when we were finished, this driver had an F3 of 19hz in a sealed box, what isn’t talked about much is trade offs. When we were done, this 8 inch driver had a sensitivity of 82, mass was high and the spider and voice coil former didn’t appreciate it under real power, but it certainly did it.
Next the early Totem Forest used a HiVi 6.8 inch driver that had high excursion limits and used 3 inch voice coils and a vented voice coil, that woofer did a good job with thermal issues.
Next, large drivers have no problem with speed as long as they are properly designed with enough motor to match the mass.
Next, the big deal between a large driver vs a small in bass output is just the amount of air it moves. I believe that it was Erik that mentioned above that it takes 2 8’s to move the air of a 10. It takes multiple drivers to move the air of a 15 inch woofer. Its that air movement that gives you that bass impact, not necessarily the lowest frequencies.
The higher the sensitivity with drivers, the harder it is to get LOW frequencies. That is why very high sensitivity pro drivers don’t go down well. It is possible to get low bass and good sensitivity, but it takes some engineering in the drivers. (Legacy comes to mind)
I hope this all helps,
Tim