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Unregistered guest | I have planned to buy RBH61se speakers as my main speakers (classical, jazz; no HT). Reading some of your comments about ported vs non-ported speakers, I'm now uncertain about the RBHs (I think all their sp are ported.) My room (11X26X8)doen't permit using back walls for reflecting sound since it is mostly glass. My question is whether a subw makes up for the loss of bass when a ported speaker doen't have a solid wall behind it? Any other speakers (non-ported) I should look at (Magneplan & Ascend seem to be ported, too) Cannot spend more than $1200 for a pair of speakers. Thanks to all of you for this forum; I'm getting a real education! |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6015 Registered: May-04 | The port is used as reinforcement to the signal generated by the front firing woofer. Most of what you hear as bass is coming from the front wave of the woofer and not the port itself. You can find out what contribution the port is making to the signal by putting your ear next to the port. Whether the speaker is rear ported, front ported or a sealed enclosure, the back wall is going to have to give some reinforcement to the bass since the longer bass wavelengths will wrap around the speaker and be reflected by the wall behind the speaker. Pulling the speaker away from the wall will have an affect on the perceived bass response as the reinforcement of the wall is minimized. I'm not certain what you want the subwoofer to accomplish. |
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Unregistered guest | Thanks Jan. I found your Aug. 13 response to someone about speaker ports and it helped my understanding. I purchased Klipsch RF-7s last Nov. Since then I've listened to them for only about 10 hours. Too overpowering in my small house and room. To play classical music at a volume that has acceptable 'body', the speakers are too formidable. I decided to give them away to some school. I want much smaller speakers to be placed on stands (not towers). I thought I might need a sub to flesh out the sound and strengthen the bass in my listening area. |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 6023 Registered: May-04 | The amount of bass extension you require will be determined by your room and your listening tastes. Most moderately sized enclosures can get decent extension to about 45Hz. How much bass power is available at that frequency is dependent on several factors, the most important being placement in your room. 45Hz will get you bass response that covers most of the usable frequency range of most instruments. http://www.psbspeakers.com/audioTopics.php?fpId=8&page_num=1&start=0 Whether the music you listen to has frequencies outside of this range is something you must decide. Good quality bass extension beneath this point becomes increasingly expensive. The most logical approach today is with a subwoofer that can actually create good bass response in a reasonably sized room. Since the home theater market has driven most subwoofer sales in the past few years, there are too many subwoofers which create boom and bustle while ignoring quality of bass. I would insist on an audition period in my own room before making a final commitment to purchasing any speaker system. Be aware also that your room may present difficulties in reporducing good quality, deep bass. The dimensions of the room dictate what you will hear in any room. If the room has large swings in amplitude at various frequencies, even the best subwoofer cannot overcome the room it is working into. If this becomes the case, you might want to look for a subwoofer with a two band parametric eq built into the plate amplifier. This is a reasonable amount of equalization for smoothing the room problems in most applications. This type of subwoofer is dificult to find and is more expensive than the average. If room modes are your problem, however, you will not get much done without something to treat the room problems. Either active or passive devices can begin to solve room problems. Another solution is to use two smaller subwoofers working into different portions of the room. http://www.harman.com/wp/index.jsp?articleId=1003.0 http://www.harman.com/wp/index.jsp?articleId=131.0 |