HF vs HO - Two Camps

[Warmon]

Hello fellas,

Another burning question: why is it that most subwoofer drivers tend to fall into one of two camps - high frequency or high output? I'm noticing that one large group has a frequency response that cuts off well below 1khz and another group that goes well beyond.

If the whole point of a subwoofer is to [typically] reproduce frequencies less than 150hz; in what case would one want to use a HF subwoofer?

Warmon -

[Exocer]

hmmm, a driver meant to cover a band of frequencies higher than 150hz is a midwoofer in my book. someone correct me if im wrong.

[Geoff St. Germain]

I'm not sure I know of too many true subwoofers that would be effective "well-beyond" 1 kHz that aren't pro audio drivers. Do you have any examples?

[Warmon]

Geoff St. Germain wrote:

I'm not sure I know of too many true subwoofers that would be effective "well-beyond" 1 kHz that aren't pro audio drivers. Do you have any examples?

Partsexpress lists several. I see them in other places as well. What y'all said jives up with what I'm reading elsewhere; that subwoofers with freq responses much above 5-600 Hz are just woofers masquerading as subs. They referred to them as pseudo-woofers; regular woofers capable of producing frequencies in the 20-30 Hz range.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=290-367
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=297-608
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=296-432

So, what happens when one builds a sub using a driver that is not exactly a "true subwoofer" [and you still limit its upper freq to 150 Hz]? Let's say you have a woofer that has a freq response 30-3000, specs are otherwise good, it models okay and has been used successfully as a sub before. Think it's worth spending time on?

Warmon -

[Geoff St. Germain]

Warmon wrote:

Partsexpress lists several. I see them in other places as well. What y'all said jives up with what I'm reading elsewhere; that subwoofers with freq responses much above 5-600 Hz are just woofers masquerading as subs. They referred to them as pseudo-woofers; regular woofers capable of producing frequencies in the 20-30 Hz range.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=290-367
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=297-608
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=296-432

So, what happens when one builds a sub using a driver that is not exactly a "true subwoofer" [and you still limit its upper freq to 150 Hz]? Let's say you have a woofer that has a freq response 30-3000, specs are otherwise good, it models okay and has been used successfully as a sub before. Think it's worth spending time on?

Warmon -

Of those the Peerless is the only one I'd really classify as a subwoofer (it's frequency response is listed as 18.1 Hz to 500 Hz as well). It's a great driver too... the Xmax isn't as high as some other drivers, but it is supposed to offer great SQ from everything I've heard about it.

The Goldwood driver I would not classify as a subwoofer. With an Fs of 38 Hz and an Xmax of 3.5 mm I would definitely classify it as a woofer. The Aurum Cantus 10" claims to be a woofer anyway. It looks like a nice driver (and should be for the money).

There's no reason that a driver with response up to 3 kHz couldn't be used as a subwoofer, but IMO you could do better than a low frequency response of 30 Hz. If all you're looking for is a lower limit of 30 Hz then there's no reason not to use the driver. Of course it depends on the specific driver...

[Warmon]

I guess what I should be asking is this: what characteristics define a "true subwoofer"? and do these pseudo subs sound inferior in any way. When it comes to Fs, lower is better? I have another question too, which I want to ask as a new thread.

Warmon -