“Yes, but…”
Yes, 20Hz to 20,000Hz is the accepted range of human hearing, and frankly most of us can’t hear nearly as high as 20,000Hz
But speakers that go to 30KHz and above, like GoldenEar Technology’s folded ribbon tweeter tweeter, have an audible superiority over tweeters that cut off lower. And when soft dome tweeters have been compared to metal dome tweeters even when they both test flat to 20k, the metal domes with resonant peaks above 20K sound harsh by comparison. To me this means that the tests an audiologist give us do not tell the whole story. I believe that when listening to music we can sense the presence of higher frequencies. After all, music is not listening to sine wave test tones and pushing buttons to show we hear something.
Yes, it’s true that the fundamental of the lowest note of musical instruments if seldom are below 40Hz (with rare exceptions like piano at 27Hz, and organ at 18 Hz) but very little use is made of these lower notes in acoustic music.
But speakers with extended deep bass somehow have richer and fuller sound. Could it be that the combining of tones that produce the timbre of instruments has a low frequency component that we sense rather than hear? I think so.
Yes, it’s generally thought that 20Hz is the accepted lower limit of human hearing and frequencies below that can’t be heard.
But Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology has made an infrasonic woofer that goes down to DC at high SPL and proved that we can hear bass below 20Hz, but it must be very loud.
Link: Eminent Technology
Do you like listening in the dark?
Here’s another difference between testing by instrument and listening – people’s hearing improves in the dark. Many audiophiles have noticed this, and the idea that blind people hear better than sighted people has been around a long time. Now a study confirms this. Interesting reading.
Make it sound right with the DSPeaker Dual Core processor
In previous newsletters I’ve mentioned the DSPeaker 2.0 Dual Core for its most famous capability – removing peaks and flattening your room’s bass response. But it can do much more than that – its parametric equalizer allows you to create the frequency response you want to hear in your room. and store four different custom frequency responses, selectable at the push of a button on its remote. There is lots more, like a USB DAC, etc. etc. but there’s no need to get into all its capabilities now.
What is important is that it is a neutral, transparent component, without the problems of previous analog EQs that degraded the sound and ruined the reputation of equalization aong audiophiles. I offer as witness to the sound quality its Stereophile Class A rating which I have copied and pasted below.
2013 Stereophile Recommended Components Signal Processors
Signal Processors – Class A
DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core digital room equalizer: $1199
DSPeaker’s Anti-Mode 2.0 Dual Core is a highly versatile, remote-controllable, two-channel room/system equalizer for full-range loudspeakers. It has two VS8053 IceDragon processor chips, a small color display, XLR and RCA analog inputs and outputs, a datalink connector for linking multiple Anti-Mode 2.0 units, and a USB connector for USB audio mode, firmware updates, and data downloads. By default, the Anti-Mode 2.0 measures and automatically corrects from 16 to 150Hz, but can be configured to work from 16Hz to an upper limit ranging from 80 to 500Hz. In addition, it provides a large array of filter and configuration options, and can store up to four different sound profiles. “The DSPeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 may be a small and unprepossessing black box, but its performance and power are huge,” summed up KR. (Vol.35 No.11 Read Review Online)”
TAS likes it too
In a review by Robert Greene in The Absolute Sound wherein he says that after fine tuning the system frequency response with the Dual Core “…in the end you can get truly remarkable sound out of a system corrected and adjusted with a Dual Core.”
The entire review can be read at The Absolute Sound
I have the Dual Core on demo, and available for loan to anyone who wants to see if it solves their problems and/or provides the correction and adjustment they need in their system.