What are the specs of a full range speaker?

Tvad, because the low frequencies can be felt through your body as anybody who has contact with a system playing super low frequencies will tell you. Only very few researchers believe that high frequencies are felt through the bone structure of the head. Anything that turns you on is all right as far as I'm concerned, but I still think that defining terms and agreeing on basics is too important a subject to always put forth the exceptions to any given rule or a way-out theory as being what should be given prominence in these discussions. Call me crazy!

Pbb, my speakers go down to 16hz, so I am familiar with "room shake" and feeling low frequencies in one's body. As far as HF extension, I was just posing the question without any intention of being argumentative. Since several supertweeters are marketed, and since people who buy them like their system's sound better with them than without them, it seems the buyers must sense something positive. The issue is interesting.

Have we decided on the full range frequency definition? I suppose I'd cast my vote for 30hz-20khz.

I've heard speakers that are rated at +/- whatever from 30-20K that do not *sound* full range to me. They reproduce deep bass but without the *weight* I associate with truly full-range speakers. Perhaps Room Lock and Room Shudder describe that experience of weight. Do those happen automatically if a speaker reaches down to 30Hz? My guess is room interaction is a huge factor in whether or not they do.

BTW, my vote for 30hz-20khz as the full range definition is based primarily on the fact that Stereophile uses this range when they rate loudspeakers.

Personally, I'm more apt to purchase loudspeakers that go down to at least 25hz (and I don't place nearly as much weight on the measurement above 20khz).

Bartokfan, any speaker that can fulfill the music demands of the genre you like is full range.

Still, there is something hair raising about 18 - 29 Hz, If the room is accommodating. There is a surprising amount of music that dips way down, like Laurie Anderson's Monkey Paws, or almost anything by Bjork.

Even a grand piano's lowest key vibrates at 27.5 Hz (A0). To reproduce a grand piano's full voice your speakers need to be flat through 27.5 Hz. Also, whatever driver is producing the low octaves needs to be fast, in order to sound realistic.

My Scintillas flat line through 20Hz, way into sub woofer range. I once ran a Stereophile Test CD's frequency sweep on my system. The first clue the CD was running was when CD cases started falling out of their stand onto the floor. The tone moved up the scale seamlessly to out of hearing with nary a waver.