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Are we obsessed with bass?

JoeESP9 said:
Yeah, but having no or restricted bass is like having no or restricted access to female anatomy. To me that's kind of like being in prison. The only way you have access to female anatomy is if the prison allows conjugal visits(most don't).

I don't know about you but I'm violently heterosexual and celibacy is not a voluntary option for me.
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Music without deep bass is akin to celibacy? That one leaves me scratching my head a bit.
 
Doug G. said:
Well, the sub-woofer issue is separate because one isn't necessarily needed to reproduce deep, natural bass but, to me, a system that doesn't reproduce the total frequency range normally encountered in music is not really high fidelity.

Doug
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Just to be argumentative, :D, if I listen to mostly woodwind ensembles why would I need or want a system to reproduce 20hz if it reduces the clarity of the midrange presentation....just sayin'.

The "requirement" to reproduce the entire frequency range seems pretty arbitrary. It's like saying a race car should glide over bumps and a luxury car should take corners with exceptional agility.
 
JoeESP9 said:
Yeah, but having no or restricted bass is like having no or restricted access to female anatomy. To me that's kind of like being in prison. The only way you have access to female anatomy is if the prison allows conjugal visits(most don't).

I don't know about you but I'm violently heterosexual and celibacy is not a voluntary option for me.
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You mean you want bass so loud it literally shakes off female clothing? :thmbsp:
 
Let's say, during a live performance (which is being recorded) of your woodwind ensemble, a stagehand backstage, attempts to lift one leg of the grand piano that's back there. He gets it about an inch off the floor and can't handle it and drops it with a thud.

I want to hear that thud in the recording.

:D

Doug
 
In my scenario there is no piano:D

I get your point:D. But you still maintain if a speaker or system doesn't reproduce 20Hz - 20kHz (flat) it's not high fidelity?

You might want to check with Sonus Faber, Wilson, Martin Logan, etc. to see if they agree, maybe Harbeth, Spendor, B&W...there may be a few others.

I'm guessing a piano dropping onto a stage might have fundamentals as low as 20Hz but I'm not buying the occasional stagehand mishap:D
 
Wigwam Jones said:
"I'm not necessarily obsessed."

"Yes, I am."

Funny! :thmbsp:

Everybody 'settles'. The only question is where. Past a certain point, it's called 'obsession'. And you actually used that word to describe what you do, while saying it isn't that. Hey, it's all good and I mean this in a light-hearted way, nothing serious or mean-spirited here. But you, uh, kind of proved my point. :scratch2:
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Whoa! Careful with those quotation marks, Eugene. I don't know who you're quoting when you wrote "I'm not necessarily obsessed" because I didn't write that. I wrote "Not necessarily" as a reply to your statement...

"I would likewise hope that if a person gets to the place that satisfies them, they'd likewise want to stop. If not, then that kind of answers the question the OP posed in his subject line. Are we obsessed with bass? Yep."

So my statement was simply that because I elect to not settle for (great) bass that doesn't necessarily mean I'm obsessed with bass. Let me clarify...I'm obsessed with pushing the performance envelope wrt to all aspects of audio reproduction, not just bass. But bass, by default, is included in that endeavor. Where I'm in disagreement with you is your contention that just because someone is satisfied with something they should be content to settle. If that were the case I would've stopped at a set of JBL L100t3's, a Hafler 500, a graphic EQ and no acoustic treatments. That set up made great bass, but wrt many other facets of audio reproduction it comes nowhere close to what I've achieved in my ongoing quest to improve what I have. Things simply sound much better as a result of my refusal to settle. I'm sure I'll settle at some point for any number of possible reasons, but I'm certainly not there yet.

No, I'm not obsessed with bass. That would be the guy in the '87 Crown Vic with 24's that just drove by.
 
Obsessed? Not sure, but I do appreciate a system that can give the impact of a double kick-drum when needed.
Having a sub certainly can help with that duty while freeing the mains to do the rest of the work...
 
finnbow said:
Music without deep bass is akin to celibacy? That one leaves me scratching my head a bit.
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It was suggested that bass is like female anatomy.:D

Yes, you can live without sex but I for one don't want to. For me, deep bass is the same sort of thing.
 
Pandovski said:
The beauty of bass frequency is the 360 degree spreading, the enveloping effect it creates. We sense low frequency with our body, not just our ears.
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This is where I live. Also, bass done right enhances the mids and highs. It's tough to get right but well worth it when you do. Hard, boomy (rap) bass is a joke to me.

Without some deep, rich, tight, full sounding bass I lose interest pretty fast.
 
I'm not, at all. Don't even use a sub and never will. Let the big box speakers, with 12 inch woofers, do all the work. If it don't sound right get new speakers.

But the wife is totally obsessed with base. Totally. Just Mesmorized by it. Boom, boom boom.
 
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bluesky said:
I'm not, at all. Don't even use a sub and never will. Let the big box speakers, with 12 inch woofers, do all the work. If it don't sound right get new speakers.

But the wife is totally obsessed with base. Totally. Just Mesmorized by it. Boom, boom boom.
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If it were only that easy.

If the room's acoustic response is not favorable for low frequency reproduction it doesn't matter how big the woofers are or the kind of speakers you're using.

But you sound completely happy with what you have going on so just keep on keeping on there, bluesky. :yes:
 
Pandovski said:
Many prefer to have the woofer driver in the same box (or location) as the other driver(s). What are the advantages of this vs distributed bass?
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I am just taking a stab at this, time alignment, and that is where many people that use external subs and distributed bass system will find their weakness. Using external active crossover with time delays one could theoretically compensate, and make the adjustments for it, but most people have neither the equipment or the knowledge on how to do it correctly, yet will still advance their opinion how much better distributed bass is or using subs to complement their monitors.

To electronically phase align the speakers is not hard as long as the drivers are quite close, just as many speakers manufactures physically align the driver to get their speakers time aligned. But when you start placing Subs quite some distance from the mids and hi frequency drivers, then you start creating situations where time alignment is going to be a bit more challenging.
 
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How can anyone claim that a sound system that does not produce the lowest octave of sound without distortion at the same relative level to other instruments it would be live is high fidelity? No bass, no music. Maybe for a violin solo but not a heck of a lot else. Bass gives music its power and accents rhythm. I've yet to hear any 8" two way system that can reproduce the lowest octave. And it isn't just for pipe organ lovers, it's for the lowest piano keys, bass drums, string basses, cellos, tubas.

That's why I bought AR9s, for the bass. Those speakers are great bass makers. They can produce as much bass as I want or need. Many so called subwoofers produce loud bass but when it comes to deep undistorted bass a lot of them fall shy. Even with program material and speakers that can get the job done, placement and equalization is critical. Most audiophiles sound systems I've heard just don't cut it.
 
Get some online test tones, fire 'em up, and walk around. You'll hear suckouts and pileups, unless your room is perfect.

Perfect without analysis and treatment is possible but highly unlikely. I heard what I'm describing, and it has me considering diffusion.
 
I'm a bass player, so I like and need plenty of bass.

Like a few others here, I don't give a tinker's toss what the producer or musician intended. I got equalisers, loudness switches and tone controls so I can adjust the sound to how I like.
 
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