[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Maybe I’m not getting the terminology right for what I’m talking about – maybe “resonance” is a better word than “harmonics.” In fact, the more I think about it the more I think harmonics probably isn’t the right word, because harmonics are at recognized intervals above the fundamental.

What I’m talking about has to do with the way we are able to clearly hear bass notes, whose fundamentals are down to 40 Hz or even lower, with speakers with 6” or smaller woofers that are only rated for 100 Hz, or even higher.

For instance, I recall reading somewhere that in Motown’s heyday back in the ‘60s, they intentionally mixed and “voiced” bass so that it could be heard on the cheesy transistor radios all the kids listened to in those days. They even had a transistor radio speaker in the studio for reference, they said. Shoot, I used top practice bass guitar lines to music from a portable cassette deck that had maybe a 3-4” speaker!

The point is, there is a lot of information in an instrumental tone that enables us to hear bass, for instance, or cymbals, even when the speakers we’re listening to are unable to generate the fundamentals of the notes.

Whatever you call that, IMO it’s being generated below the fundamental as well as above it, and you can tell it’s there if you have a sub with good extension. Get a 30 Hz sub and a 20 Hz sub side by side and you can definitely tell the difference, even when the fundamentals are 30 Hz or higher.

There - did that help, or make things even more murky?

Regards,
Wayne