World's Most Powerful Subwoofer 436
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!"
Deaf people? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is this even legal? (Score:5, Interesting)
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:$13,000 (Score:5, Interesting)
Military uses? (Score:5, Interesting)
Put it in your server room (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:$13,000 (Score:1, Interesting)
PenGun
Do What Now ???
Resonance (Score:2, Interesting)
I found some frequencies where my bathroom has resonance (propabaly 1:2 harmonics), but I am sure it is much to small to have resonance at frequencies below a few Hz.
Oh bull. (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Primitive Audio Weapon ? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Is this even legal? (Score:5, Interesting)
According to this article [wired.com], 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 [wikipedia.org]), but more of a lung-collapsing, vomit inducing weapon.
Pimp my ride (Score:5, Interesting)
Despite being a WASP I must add that the car post-transformation was "phat".
John.
Re:Oh bull. (Score:5, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Deaf people? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is this even legal? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
This subwoofer was demonstrated recently at (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:$13,000 (Score:2, Interesting)
Silver on the other hand is best for studio use as it is much tougher and and tarnishes which isn't as much as a problem in the studio.
Re:Is this even legal? (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Nice concept but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Even Better: Spontaneous Orgasms (Score:4, Interesting)
Google search for 33Hz + orgasm [google.com]
I put the link first so y'all don't try to call bullshit on me. I read it in an audio magazine (correction: wired magazine [wired.com])a while back. The writer went for a ride along with some bassists who drove around town pushing a button and juicing girls. The driver was saying that part of the reason girls give 'im dirty looks is because they can feel the bass pushing their button.
As an aside, you may or may not know that serious car bass systems aren't set up to play music per se. They're setup to produce massive SPL, and because of that, they usually wire up a button (which they can press to unleash their thunder (and set off car alarms) while driving around town. For contests they use a remote control and replace windshields/windows/etc with inches of lexan which you can watch flex while the tones are being played.
All that said, high SPL's in the lower frequencies can cause your lung to spontaneously collapse.
Re:It will it hit the brown note. (Score:3, Interesting)
Sounds like someone had way too much fun imitating Howard Stern with that study. I recall seeing him do that with some chick in his movie.
The needle on my bullshitometer just went up to 11 (Score:3, Interesting)
> as low as 1Hz. Typical subwoofers bottom out at 20Hz, and while the
> human ear can barely hear below that point
Nobody can hear anything in frequencies that low. Even 20Hz is quite a stretch. A few people may be able to hear 20Hz, but those are very few. Its just like those tweeters you see advertized that can go as high as 50KHz, when only very few people, mainly very young girls, can hear as high as 20KHz.
> 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!
Assuming the resonant frequency of the room is the same frequency of the sound being produced, that could work. But move to another room with a different resonant frequency, or try to produce other frequencies not in the room's resonant frequency range, and the sound quality deteriorates to crap.
Re:Pimp my ride (Score:2, Interesting)
Personally I've always wondered what happens to the rides? Most of those people are from shitty towns. How many have been busted into and had the LCD's pulled?
As for this sub, not worth it. And the article mentions paper cones. What good subs still use paper? Spinning parts on sound equipment, something tells me that baby will have to be fixed a bit. Like a frickin airplane with an hour meter on it.
Re:It will it hit the brown note. (Score:2, Interesting)