Ultra LFE- I want it! (1 Viewer)

[DanielKellmii]

If my receiver only goes down to 20Hz, does this mean that I am missing out on the low frequency effect in movies like Black Hawk Down? I read that some movie go down to 5 hz. Is that true? Does this mean that I need a better sub?

 

[GrahamT]

Hardly any movies have sub 20 Hz info and hardly any subs will go that low any way. First of all, what sub do you have?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

And what do you mean your receiver only goes to 20? It likely goes below that. The sub capability is the limiting factor, not the receiver.

 

[DanielKellmii]

I have a Onkyo HTS-760 HTiB. The spec on the receiver is:
Frequency Response 20 Hz-100 kHz (+ 1 dB, - 3 dB)
and on the sub:
Front/Center/Surround/Subwoofer/Surround Back 55 Hz-35 kHz/65 Hz-35 kHz/65 Hz-35 kHz/30 Hz-150 Hz/65 Hz -35 kHz

I can't post a link yet, but the full specs are at onkyousa.com

 

[GrahamT]

That rating is probably for distortion purposes. And dont worry, that sub wont get any where near 20 Hz. If you want subsonic extension you are gonna have to get a SVS, HSU, Paradigm or big Velodyne sub or go DIY.

 

[NickScott]

My dream subs go down to 9hz!! Check out REL Acoustics
www.rel.net

The Q150E is about $1500 canadian and is absolutely amazing for a 1' Cubed sub!! I want one front, one rear, when I have my ultimate system. The best subs I have ever heard!!

Thats my bit,

 

[ChrisWiggles]

There's no way that little 8in sub is even going to approach 20hz reasonably well, let alone down into the teens or an insane 5hz. Without adding a subwoofer that costs MANY times the cost of that system, you're not going to achieve audible or even good output at those ridiculously low hz.

You don't *need* better anything. But a better sub can improve that area of performance overall, while increasing bass extension. Better speakers likewise, will make a system sound better. AS will better electronics. The list goes on. It depends on how much you're willing to spend, how much time evaluating possible purchases to get the best value for you, and what areas you want to improve the most.

You could spend 500-600 dollars on JUST a subwoofer and not get audible output down to 5hz. Most subs costing that much can't even get down to 20hz well or cleanly, if at all, let alone as low as you want to go.

 

[DanielKellmii]

"There's no way that little 8in sub..."
Little? Yes, but not according to my wife!

Thanks Chris, that is good info. But now I am a bit confused. Do the SVS or other high end subs respond to frequencies lower than is output by the receiver? How is that possible? I think there is a bit of knowledge that I am missing. Maybe I am getting to technical right now. Sorry. Has this subject been addresed previously?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

The specs on the receiver outputs doesn't mean that it won't output below 20hz. These specs are more to illustrate distortion, NOT how low(or high) the receiver will output. So a receiver with distortion specs will usually just be from 20hz-20khz. This does NOT mean that you lose everything above and below this at all. It's just the standard "audible" chunk used to illustrate distortion is all.

Obviously, a speaker or subwoofer is a dumb object and can't create signals that aren't there. (if it is, then something is wrong, or it's a bad/inaccurate sub or speaker, or it's possessed ) But your mistake is in assuming that your receiver can't or isn't sending signals below a certain point. It is (or should be).

Ratings on speakers are another matter. They may, or may not indicate the response capabilities of the speaker or subwoofer, depending on how thorough and accurate the ratings are. Often these things are over-rated. I have an old $75 8in sony subwoofer that claims to extend to 20hz. My SVS claims the same. It doesn't take a rocket scientist just looking at the two of them side by side that there's no way the sony can even touch the SVS. Specs are often misleading or so inaccurate as to be essentially useless. More thorouhg specs would list response with a very tight +/- db range, and then some other values for the low end where response is, say down 3db, or down 10db. This gives you a better idea of what to expect from a speaker, though it still may not give you the quality of the sound at these points. I hope that makes sense!

 

[DanielKellmii]

Chris, thanks for the infomation. I never knew that about specs. Where did you pick all this up? Are you an Electrical Engineer?

This information is great. My next project is to add some Aura Bass Shakers to my new furniture. I am going to add 2 of the small ones per sofa. Hopefully, that will give me the all the fun that I need. Then, onto the subwoffer kit from parts express. But that is some time in the future.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Daniel,

This is a very good forum. You'll pick up lots of good information from Chris and the others here.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

The specs on the receiver usually refer specifically to it own AMPLIFIER stage-- and are used simply as a ref point for measuring output at a given distortion point (or more specifically distortion at a given output)... the sub is a pass through, which the receivers traditionally give complete full range (although there are exceptions).

But if you see a freq response chart like that for a receiver, it is usually used in conjunction with wattage figures for the internal amplifiers, to outline what they were tested with.

-V