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Why the obsession with the lowest octave

From what is written in these forums and elsewhere see the following for instance.

Scroll down to the chart showing the even lowest instruments in this example recording rolling off very steeply at 40 Hz.

http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/news.php?action=view_story&id=154

It would appear that there is really very little to be heard between 20 and 40 Hz. Yet having true "full range" speakers is often the test of a great speaker. Does anyone beside me think that there is little to be gained by stretching the speakers bass performance below 30-40 cycles?
My own speakers make no apologies for going down to only 28 Hz and they are big floor standers JM Lab Electra 936s.
mechans
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,490 posts
 
No slow woofers, I never experienced this. In any woofer up to 31.5in in size. The slow woofer line has been passed about and is BS.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
Martykl, not referring to you earlier. Someone else linked T. Rex foot falls and human hearing. BTW, I think your 1/21 post is very accurate.
clio09
2,978 posts
 
However, this experience cannot be replicated in a home system, no matter how good it is, or how low the bass goes - unless you happen to live in the concert hall. You have to buy a ticket to experience that kind of truly deep bass.
Learsfool

That's always been my way of thinking about bass. Never been much of a sub fan even when I had my Spendor Classic Series speakers which aren't known for bass, but their mid-range. My current speakers go lower and the bass is more extended and very satisfying for home listening. To me trying to get bass to sound like it does in a well designed concert hall is a bit like a dog chasing it's tail. I'm sure it can be done, but at what cost? If I need to hear more bass I'll go to a concert.
mapman's avatar
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mapman
15,679 posts
 
It took me years to achieve it, but now my best recipe or great bass for reasonable cost are newer OHM series 3 or X000 series Walsh speakers driven by a good 500w/ch Icepower AMP. MIT networked ICs seem to work well in this combo.

Set this up well and use decent gear around it and you have some mighty tasty and hard to fault bass that hangs with the best.

And the rest is right up there as well.
doak
189 posts
 
The ability to fully and faithfully reproduce the lowest octave adds considerable realism to music reproduction.
However, I do not think it is best accomplished by a "full-range speaker." This is expensive, and leads to compromises in other areas of the speaker's design.

Reproduction of the bottom octave is what good subwoofers are for -- as in my Velodyne DD-18.
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