Tuba or Titan: Which to choose.

Frequently asked questions and the answers to them.

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Bill Fitzmaurice
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Tuba or Titan: Which to choose.

#1 Post by Bill Fitzmaurice »

Tubas are designed for maximum extension, which can make them the better choice for recorded music, which can have significant content below 40 Hz. Titan is designed for maximum sensitivity above 40 Hz, where the highest power demands lie with live sound. But Titans are still as good as, if not better than, Tubas for most recorded sound applications. These SPL charts compare Titan with Tubas:

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Between the 36 inch wide 1x15 Titan 48 and similar size 1x15 Tuba 60 the T48 is better above 32Hz, the T60 better below 32 Hz. Sensitivity doesn't tell the whole story, though. The T48 will take 450 watts, high passed at 35-40 Hz, the T60 will take 600 watts high passed at 25-30 Hz. If you really need that output below 32 Hz go T60, but make sure you really need it. Most off the cuff estimates of the bass content of music, both recorded and live, is off by a full octave.

Here a T30 and T39 are compared. Both are loaded with one S2010 ten. As with the T36/T48, the Titan has higher sensitivity in the live-music range above 38Hz, while the Tuba 30 is stronger below 38Hz to handle bass heavy recorded music.
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Without a doubt the cab most often built that probably shouldn't be is the Tuba 60. It's only a good choice if you need a lot of output below 32 Hz, and the vast majority of users don't. To be sure if you need that low end play your source material at high volume through a good set of phones that are flat to 20 Hz and see what happens when you pull the 25Hz EQ all the way down. If you can't tell the difference you don't need the T60. As for the 'take your breath away' chest pounding bass of live concerts, the bandwidth that provides that thump is centered around 50 to 60 Hz.
Last edited by Bill Fitzmaurice on Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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