A discussion regarding frequency

[36Hz-20kHz]

Here are some examples from Klipsch ....

So... what does this mean as regards to what you hear...

KG 4 Specifications

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 38Hz-20kHz±3dB

KG 4.5 Specifications

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 36Hz-20kHz±3dB

SB-3 Specifications (Bookshelf Speakers)

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 52Hz-20kHz±3dB

Quartet Specifications

FREQUENCY RESPONSE 38Hz-20kHz±3dB

[wuzzzer]

Welcome to the forum!

Its a measurement of how low and how high the range of sound that's produced by the speakers will be that's within plus or minus three decibels of the given range. Very generally speaking, its said that the human ear can hear frequencies from 20Hz (very low bass sounds) up to 20kHz (very high treble sounds).

The lower the first number the more that you'll be able to hear the lowest of bass sounds at the same output level of frequencies higher than it. Some newer models extend up to 23kHz in the upper treble range.

So the SB-3 speakers wouldn't have as much output below 52Hz as do the KG 4.5 since the 4.5's ± 3dB range extends down to 36Hz.

Hope that makes sense.

[36Hz-20kHz]

That is exactly what I was looking for, thank you.

[garyrc]

Also, if you have two speakers that

both

are honestly measured to have a frequency response of, say, 38 - 20K +/- 3 dB one could sound like it has strong bass, and the other weak bass, depending on where the (up to) 3 dB peaks and valleys are. The same is true for every other part of the spectrum.

Except for identifying limited range speakers that roll off steeply below 50 or 60 Hz, I don't find frequency response, as stated in most advertisements and reviews, to be a particularly enlightening specification. It was different In the early days of high fidelity (1950s), when some very popular and pretty good speakers were advertised to have response of 30 to 15K, with no decibel range specified, and then were measured to have about +/- 12 dB over that range. A strange thing happened, starting in about 1959

;

AR came out with a series of speakers (early acoustic suspension/ air suspension speakers) that had much flatter frequency response, especially in the bass, than most other speakers. They were impressive at first, at Hi Fi fairs and in showrooms, with all that bass coming out of a little box, but many of us found them disappointing -- they and their descendants tended to sound mushy and lacked "fast" dynamics. Later Paul Klipsch rank ordered the importance of speaker characteristics, in his estimation. I believe he considered low distortion to be the most important single characteristic, and put frequency response last.

Some say that variations of less than 1/3 octave in width (or 1/4th octave, etc.) are not detectable, but I'll bet a big spike would be. Narrow dips may be less noticeable.

In the '80s ( i think) the founder and former editor of

Stereophile

magazine, when he was talking about musicians appreciating Klipschorns, pointed out that it is what triggers your musical

gestalt

that counts. Klipschorns, and certain other speakers, trigger mine. Interestingly, there are other, "non-triggering" speakers that have flatter frequency response. Virtually all of those that are "triggering," IMO, employ at least some horn loading, have great dynamic capacity, and are very revealing of large and small dynamic contrasts, and aren't "mushy."

[36Hz-20kHz]

This gets more interesting.... thank you... anybody else?

[pauln]

Not sure if you are a musician or not, but there is another thing to look at so as not to be mislead by the magnitude of the frequency numbers.

The frequencies correspond to musical notes, but the relationship between the frequencies and the notes compresses at the low end and expands at the high end.

For example, at the low end - you might be comparing two speakers of which one claims it goes down to 38Hz and the other claims 36Hz. How much difference is 2Hz in that range? Turns out that 36Hz is the lowest D on a piano (the forth white key from the left end) and 38Hz is D# (the next up black key) - a difference of one note, one semitone, one half step... may not seem like much, but wait...

Higher up, say at the highest D on the piano (seven white keys down from the right end) the frequency is 2350Hz and the D# next up is 2490Hz, a difference of 140Hz, but this is still the same relation - a difference of one note, one semitone, one half step... same musical difference per the scale, but 140Hz vs 2Hz.

This is all because the musical scale is an octave and the first note's frequency is doubled to get the last note. This happens over and over for each octave throughout the range. Piano has a range of almost eight octaves, so the frequncies double eight times on the way up.

Anyway, the point was to offer some perspective on what the ranges of frequencies really mean in terms of the notes you will hear. See the link below that shows more about it.

Notes and Frequencies

[garyrc]

• I believe that the highest fundamental tone on the piano is something like 4,186 Hz, but the frequencies above -- the "overtones" -- on up to about 15,000, make a big difference in the sound of a piano and most other instruments. The tweeters in the Klipschorns of the last few years are faded in at about 4,500 Hz, and continue to about 17,000 Hz (actually, mine go to 20K, but with a lot of attenuation). If you disconnect those tweeters, the music sounds very, very dead. I used to have a sharp cutoff switch on a preamp that removed all frequencies above 7,000 Hz. A guest observing the effect of that switch on a male singer said, "It takes the smile out of his voice."

• Dynamic Frequency Response: I have always wondered if there was a high correlation between normally measured frequency response of a speaker and the frequency response of a set of tone bursts across the whole bandwidth adjusted to a very high, but equal Sound Pressure Level. I suspect that some speakers would do much better than others in such a test. Perhaps the same information is retrievable from some other kind of test. A Dynamic Frequency Response test would probably have to have the SPLs lowered as the frequency gets higher, to avoid blowing a tweeter or midrange, In music, the SPL of the overtones is considerably lower than lower mids, anyway, even in a big and sharp transient attack.

[36Hz-20kHz]

A long lost passion - being a musician... your link is definitely note worthy (no pun intended) and worth a look ...

Thank you