The Iron Law - Paul Joppa - Bottlehead Forum

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The Iron Law

In Reply to: Looking for Unfettered, Loud , SEX! posted by mark_ivan on September 19, 2006 at 20:12:57:

The iron law of speakers is, they can't be efficient, small, and have deep bass. You need efficiency with a 2-watt amp (unless you like really quiet music) - I recommend 99dB or greater sensitivity, though many will be OK with 96dB. So you will have either limited bass or a huge speaker.
That's the point of the SEXy Speaker - it's small, has no bass, and needs a sub. In fact, the bass rolls off so high, you really should have two subs - they are no longer subwoofers, they are woofers, plain and simple.
In my current system, I have 101dB speakers that are about 3 cubic feet each and go down to maybe 70Hz. (It's a vintage mishmash, JBL 2220 and 2440, Barzilay cabinet, homebrew crossover.) After we developed the SEXy, I took the subs home and they make a real improvement. Pretty funny, a 10 inch subwoofer with a 15 inch bass/midrange!
To be honest though, we do development listening on Doc's system, heavily modified Straight Eights with a good sub. Mine does not have enough resolution.
Some of the fullrange/back horn systems are not too awfully huge. They will have lumpy bass due to the small horn mouth, but most rooms impose lumpy bass anyhow - with the right positioning and a fortuitous combination of lumps it can work better than you'd think. Because of the room dependence, I'd encourage anyone to try before you buy if at all possible.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Looking for Unfettered, Loud , SEX! - mark_ivan 20:12:57 09/19/06 (10)

Works with Mine - Beltway Bandit 16:46:29 09/20/06 (0)

Re: Looking for Unfettered, Loud , SEX! - Tightwad 05:57:49 09/20/06 (0)

The Iron Law - Paul Joppa 09/19/0620:43:23 09/19/06 (5)

The Point - Grainger49 08:23:49 09/20/06 (4)

So does that mean... - caffeinator 20:55:25 09/21/06 (3)

That Means . . . - Grainger49 04:45:46 09/22/06 (2)

Missing the joke - badman 10:39:59 10/3/06 (1)

Re: Missing the joke - Grainger49 18:02:02 10/3/06 (0)

Re: Looking for Unfettered, Loud , SEX! - mark_ivan 20:24:28 09/19/06 (1)

Re: Looking for Unfettered, Loud , SEX! - Dyna Saur 06:27:07 09/20/06 (0)

Follow Ups

The Iron Law - Paul Joppa 09/19/0620:43:23 09/19/06 (5)

The Point - Grainger49 08:23:49 09/20/06 (4)

So does that mean... - caffeinator 20:55:25 09/21/06 (3)

That Means . . . - Grainger49 04:45:46 09/22/06 (2)

Missing the joke - badman 10:39:59 10/3/06 (1)

Re: Missing the joke - Grainger49 18:02:02 10/3/06 (0)

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