World's Most Powerful Subwoofer

dponce80 writes "This $13,000 subwoofer, the TRW 17 from Eminent Technology is billed as the world's most powerful due to its ability to reproduce sounds with frequencies as low as 1Hz. Typical subwoofers bottom out at 20Hz, and while the human ear can barely hear below that point, it is still possible to feel the sound. This particular woofer does not have an enclosure, instead relying on a fan-like design, wafting a cone of modulated air into the room, and effectively turning it into a resonating box, in its entirety!"

Comments

Deaf people?

[jobber-d]

I wonder if this will affect deaf people's ability to 'listen' to music at all. Having a wider range of frequencies should allow for more variations in vibrations, no?

Is this even legal?

[GeorgeWright]

Note: I have not yet read the article because the server seems to be dead.

Is this subwoofer even legal? International law bans transmitters which are capable of transmitting on the frequency of approx 6 or 7Hz because that's the resonant frequency of the human ribcage. Seems like this could be used as a pretty lethal weapon from the (short) description in the posting.

Re:Is this even legal?

[fmwap]

Interesting thought, I've felt the effects before but never done any research...

According to this article, lung collapse can be a effect of freqencies in this range, and that " The lungs may essentially start to vibrate in the same frequency as the bass, which could cause a lung to rupture."

I vaguly remember hearing about experimentation into using this as a weapon (No, not the Brown note), but more of a lung-collapsing, vomit inducing weapon.

Re:Is this even legal?

[ChadN]

This reminds of a time, years ago, when I went to a petting zoo in Reston, Virginia. They had a pair of Emu in a large paddock, and as I walked up to the fence (about 20 feet away from them), I felt something hit me in the chest. I stopped and looked around; I was alone. I took another step, somewhat hesitantly, and something hit me again.

I was looking at the Emu, they were looking at me, and the second time it happened, I saw something moving on one bird's chest. So, I decided they must have some sort of air bladder which they could pulse, and warn me to keep away. Which I did. I'm convinced what I felt (assuming it wasn't all in my head) was a low frequency pulse the birds use "communicate", the effects of which I felt right in my chest cavity. I'd love to hear from anyone whose had a similar experience.

Re:Is this even legal?

[ozmanjusri]

I'd love to hear from anyone whose had a similar experience.

Female emus do that booming thing a lot - it's their way of communicating. They do have an air sac on the lower curve of their neck, but it's hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for because their feathers hang down over that part of their necks.

The noise they make is low and loud, and I'm not surprised you felt it. If you're out in the bush on a quiet night, you can hear them from kilometres away.

Re:$13,000

[hoka]

Not without a real reason necessarily. I mean you may not be able to hear sub 20hz (most people can't hear below 30, especially as the age group gets older), but you can definitely feel it. The feeling of the lower frequencies can add a lot to the music, because it can add the real "boom" to certain things like cannon fire (used in on some classical concerts before you ask). Though I've never built a system sub 20hz (my current system peaks around 44hz and dips way down in the 30's) myself, I've heard a lower and they are really amazing. Just don't get going on kimber cables...

Military uses?

[Zog The Undeniable]

Sounds like the old arsequake concept has been resurrected. For those who can't be bothered to read the link, various armies have tried to find a bass frequency that, aimed at enemy soldiers, would cause them to involuntarily lose bowel control. Of course, as bass is omnidirectional, you need to make sure your own troops have earplugs or a full enema beforehand ;-)

Primitive Audio Weapon ?

[zuki]

Although there are several patents already held in the field of military and defense-related technologies for ultra-high intensity infrasonic weapons capable of destroying concrete structures from a distance (it's rumored to be able to do far uglier things to the human body), and this since the early 50's, there are some other considerations to keep in mind when attempting to use such a monster subwoofer at home or in a small enclosed space.

Without taking the time to quote the exact sources, it is known (another urban legend?...) in the field of both professional studio and live sound that certain subsonic frequencies are likely to inflict severe punishment to the human body, from memory I seem to recall 3 Hz causing nausea, loss of equilibrium and balance, some other frequencies nearby incontinence or cardiac arrhythmia, and one in particular (??...) rumored to be fatal at certain elevated sound pressure levels. All of this between 1 Hz and 25 Hz. (someone please take the time to dig up the precise data and papers on this?...)

Further, it should be understood that most audio mastering engineers will severely filter out any frequencies below 25 Hz as a matter of habit from the old mastering vinyl days, but also as those sounds do 'cloud up' the 'bottom end' audio in final mixes, and possibly because some of them are aware of the inherent risks posed by having those stray frequencies played at very loud volumes in enclosed areas.

Although this piece of gear sounds like it could be terrific, it may also pose a very real threat to its users if operated improperly. So far, we're not even talking about the possibility of inflicted hearing damage from exposure.

YMMV, as always, and most certainly in this case, batteries definitely not included.

Pimp my ride

[JohnGrahamCumming]

As regular viewers of the excellent MTV educational show "Pimp My Ride" will already be informed Xzibit and colleagues recently installed a 12,000 Watt subwoofer in one of their patient's vehicules. The subwoofer itself is here: http://www.cardomain.com/sku/MTXT992244.

Despite being a WASP I must add that the car post-transformation was "phat".

John.

Re:Oh bull.

[HD Webdev]

So a subwoofer with a 1hz capability is nothing to get excited about, you could do that with a wide variety of subwoofers. And achieving such a low, inaudible frequency sure as hell doesn't make it the world's most powerful subwoofer.

Those low frequencies at a high enough power can effect things quite a bit.

I remember years ago I was in a town where there were serious problems people were having with objects falling off of shelves and other similar places. (These objects would only last a few days in places that they had been in for years without problems)

It turned out that it was a new local Wind Power Generator that was to blame. It's very low Hz wasn't audible in the slightest, but when it's wavelength matched up with {whatever} object, it caused quite a serious effect.

Dumb rich material, the best market in the world

[NeedleSurfer]

Not only you don't hear those frequency they actually feel like vibration, very low vibration, disturbing vibrations. Plus since EVERYTHING you happen to listen to has been recorded on gear thats doesn't reproduce frequencies below 20HZ, and even then, it's perfectly and uterly useless, for 13000$...

I've worked in studios, I've been consultant for studios and even built some, many project and home studios and 3 commercial studios (no commercial studio is built alone so count me part of a team on those). No studio, none, is equiped to deal with such low frequency for obvious reasons, comfort and audibility being the 2 most obvious, so even if your subwoofer reproduces frquencies below 20hz you will never know it.