GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: Romy The Cat's new Listening Room

Post Subject: Power to the PeoplePosted by Paul S on: 5/11/2010

MSA, I'll grant that greed is the force behind much of modern "technology", and I agree that good drivers are few and far between these days. However, I am not as sure as you are that an old Hartley driver could properly charge Romy's house with musical LF.

What I remember about the big old lightweight woofers is that they were compromised in terms of LF in order that they could play with less input, and/or they could play up to higher frequencies, as they do in the "VOT" type speakers that you seem to be referring to. Still, the big Altecs and JBLs that really can do LF also eat power if you want them to play loud, strong LF in a large space. Ironically, as few realize, the old "dedicated" amps for the VOTs were very powerful for their day, and they were also typically biased for LF.

As for the Hartleys, I will of course accept that they "sound good" acording to your own criteria. I never played around with the Hartleys, but I heard many over the years, and I remember nothing I would not now refer to as "vintage" sound, overall, from their "factory" speakers. And there was nothing remarkable about their LF, by modern standards, that I can recall.

Yes, some modern "LF" drivers are heavy "just because". But some modern LF drivers are made the way they are so they can do 130 dB @ 25 Hz for hours on end, day after day. And - no way around it - it takes lots of power to drive speakers like this.

Sooner or later, if you want LF and SPL at the same time, you have to reckon with exponential power requirements, and these according to the particular space you want to charge, according to the way the rest of your system delivers the rest of the sound spectrum. As it happens, I like some of the lighter drivers, too; but they'll only give or take so much.

Best regards,
Paul S

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