Pegstir wrote:I have another question. I have taken physics before but its been awhile. The lower the frequency= the lower the tone or pitch=more bass
Back in the Renaissance and during the Baroque period, music was actually part of their science/math curriculum in universities because of how music works.
The lower the frequency, the lower the note. For example, I believe middle C on the piano is 440hz. One octave down is still a C, but at 220hz. C, one octave (8 notes makes an OCTave) up, would be 880hz. There is then rules of fifth where you take 3/2 to the power of things to figure out stuff...It's not something I've studied though.
Clear so far?
So yes, a lower frequency, will sound lower, but the term "more bass" is a qualitative way of defining a quantitative amount. But in this instance, more has nothing to do with how deep a note is.
More bass means more db's, or an increased SPL (Sound Pressure Level)
So 30hz will sound lower than 50hz.Increasing your bass output from 90 to 110db will sound like you have "more bass"
The bad news is, our ears are not linearly efficient. At 2khz, with undamaged ears, we have a sensitivity of about 0db's. Which means we can hear sounds at 2khz that are very quiet. (A mosquito in a quiet room from 3ft away) Actually our ears are so sensitive, if they were any better, we'd be able to hear air molocules colliding with our ear drums. Why is this bad? Because at 20hz, our threshold of hearing is around 60-65db's.
What this means is sound in the 2-3khz range at 100db will be very loud, but at 20hz, it will sound as loud as normal speech...sorta. You can't really compare the two, but it would be 40db above threshold and 40db is about as loud as people talk in a quiet setting.
So the moral of the story is 90db at 60hz will sound like more bass than 95db at 20hz because of the ways our ears work. Below 20hz, bass begins to no longer register as sound and instead is preceived as tactile forces.
Side note: Our upper extension of hearing is 20khz. For most people with slight hearing damage, that extension is typicall reduced to 15-18khz. With that said THERE IS NO REASON TO BUY SPEAKERS OR TWEETERS TO GAIN OUTPUT ABOVE 20KHZ!!! It's sales gimmick. Some advertised ridiculous frequency responses up to 40khz, and I've even seen 80khz in home audio products.
The funny thing is CD's, because of their technology, have an upper extension of 22khz. So even if you had a preamp, amp, and speakers capable of output in the 25-80khz range, the CD can't even have any of that information encoded on it. SACD is a different story, but you're still at the mercy of your ears.
Want to talk about tube amps?