Bass till it hurts....

[dweeeeb2]

Finally got around to using my HTx for crossover and 12"sub. Sounded good, nice and punchy, tight. I was pretty happy for a first swing. It didn't sound overly bassy to me but I'm finding bass to be quite an insidious and sneaky creature. After an hour of medium level music it was becoming a bit annoying. I couldn't say it sounded harsh, or boomy, just..... too punchy. Changing genre of music helped for a while but I began to feel a bit nauseas like I had motion sickness.

Now my wife is lying on the couch wondering why she feels sick....!

I can't tell her it's the bass, I'll never hear the end of it!!

I was wondering what stories our ASR members have? Anything similar?

 

[audiofooled]

You'll get used to it and want more
Just don't get your wife aggravated!

 

[boxerfan88]

Probably a room mode peak that is triggered and resonating.

In my room, I get headaches after about 5-10mins of the 43Hz mode resonance triggered by bass heavy tracks. I had to EQ to tame it.

REW sweep will show it as a bass peak >10dB from average levels, and waterfall plot will show it ringing to 800ms or more.

 

[ernestcarl]

I was wondering what stories our ASR members have? Anything similar?

Rythmik F12 (rumble filter disabled, damping set at high, LPF AVR/12dB per oct. and extension set to 20Hz) as measured ~1.5cm in-situ ~vs~ two other main listening positions in the room:

Resonances below 40 Hz get worse (even with EQ correction) after a certain SPL threshold increase above ~95-100 dB as some of wall surfaces in the room start to resonate and vibrate sympathetically enough to be heard clearly and even localize.

*Oh, yeah. Without EQ correction, you definitely feel physical discomfort.

 

[DVDdoug]

I can't help with your feelings or psychology but for $100 USD you can get a measurement mic and then REW is free to measure your speakers & room.

Or, it's possible that you just got carried away with your new toy and tuned-up the bass a bit too much.

The only thing similar I've experienced is some "pop" recordings (maybe Madonna???) that have overly-boosted one-note bass, and I just turn-down the volume or skip the song. And of course, you also hear those "kid's" car stereos with one-note boomy bass.

I also don't know what "punchy" means...

 

[dweeeeb2]

I’ll measure it in REW. I had used Dirac and it “predicted “ flat bass at MLP (EDIT: 3dB drop from 20Hz to 20kHz.) Since I was very limited as to where I could put my sub I used REW previously to determine where the MLP should be ( least wide low dips in FR < 250Hz), I then positioned mains as best I could to suit that spot, one unfortunately ended up pretty close to a wall so mains crossover was set a bit higher at 150Hz. I had used REW to measure and rough EQ my speakers outdoors before positioning indoors, then ran Dirac and here I am.
By punchy I mean palpable, not so much a large sensation in the chest, rather it sounded solid, the kick and snare felt weighty. Bass notes on synth, or strings, or bass guitar didn’t sound excessive. I was happy, but concerned about the weight of percussion causing listener fatigue.

But now my tinnitus is playing up and normally bass is its trigger.

Anyway, i’m not worried by it, obviously Ive got to go and play. It just got me thinking that there could be some funny stories out there.

 

[MattHooper]

Finally got around to using my HTx for crossover and 12"sub. Sounded good, nice and punchy, tight. I was pretty happy for a first swing. It didn't sound overly bassy to me but I'm finding bass to be quite an insidious and sneaky creature. After an hour of medium level music it was becoming a bit annoying. I couldn't say it sounded harsh, or boomy, just..... too punchy. Changing genre of music helped for a while but I began to feel a bit nauseas like I had motion sickness.

Now my wife is lying on the couch wondering why she feels sick....!

I can't tell her it's the bass, I'll never hear the end of it!!

I was wondering what stories our ASR members have? Anything similar?

Not from here. I'm not a bass fiend myself.

I'm amazed at some people's set ups, not just 2 channel but often in the home theater world, where you have subwoofer and bass fanatics building massive subwoofers, stacks of gigantic drivers because The Can Never Get Enough Bass.

Not something I can relate to. But we all have our fancies.

 

[JSmith]

I also don't know what "punchy" means...

JSmith

 

[GXAlan]

Not from here. I'm not a bass fiend myself.

I'm amazed at some people's set ups, not just 2 channel but often in the home theater world, where you have subwoofer and bass fanatics building massive subwoofers, stacks of gigantic drivers because The Can Never Get Enough Bass.

Not something I can relate to. But we all have our fancies.

There are definitely bass heads who want 20” plus subs so that the Jurassic Park cup-of-water effect works in their own family room. I hope to never find myself running away from a T-Rex or avoiding the explosive force of a nuclear bomb but I do love the rumble! One of the bass hits that brought a grin to my face was watching Top Gun Maverick when the Darkstar engines are powered on for the first time.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Here’s the REW at MLP, sorry for the low SPL I had to squeeze it in between other tv users so near enough was good enough.
Also you can see I cut off +15k as I can’t hear it anyway. So if you want impact there’s something in this…

 

[audiofooled]

Perhaps 30Hz and lower is what may cause physical side effects if you play enough music with such frequency content. Rolling it off a couple of notches, but raising 30-100 range may help in keeping the distortion low, whilst maintaining the bass quality, weight and impact, if you will.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Yep, I’ll tame it a bit below 30Hz. I’m not sure how much content is there or how well we hear it (we are potentially affected by it )The system doesn’t sound bass heavy, but again my wife made comment of feeling unwell after 15min of music today. I haven’t mentioned anything to her and wanted to see what happened. She didn’t comment on it sounding bass heavy.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

Yep, I’ll tame it a bit below 30Hz. I’m not sure how much content is there or how well we hear it (we are potentially affected by it )The system doesn’t sound bass heavy, but again my wife made comment of feeling unwell after 15min of music today. I haven’t mentioned anything to her and wanted to see what happened. She didn’t comment on it sounding bass heavy.

People do adapt, but some don't. High SPL bass can mess with you. I think it is supposed to be particularly bad when you are exposed to a standing wave for long periods of time, and it looks like you have something going on 18-20 for your listening position. And you have pretty high spl bass below that.

If your sub has room correction, rolling off starting at 40 with a -6db slope might be a good place to start. You might need -12 in the end to cut down on the nausea. If no room correction, eq the thing. Room correction will be better, because infrasound is linked to nausea. (just learned that btw, because google).

Looks like you set things up well, btw. I'd never cross over that high myself but it seems effective. Maybe it could be better given more variability 150-800 or so. Were it me, I would try crossing over at 120 and see if that does anything to that variation, as a diagnostic step.

I don't have this issue, but with certain DAC filters I can immediately feel pressure in my skull. When I feel that, I have never let to go for more than 5 minutes, becuase it just gets worse.

Ears are weird, and brains weirder.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Thanks, I will be playing with the crossover.

When I get a chance I’ll over correct <30Hz and gradually bring it up until something happens. I was messing around with the HTx and some cheap old active speakers including a sub. It only went down to about 35Hz but it never made me feel unwell even with as much bass as I could squeeze out of it.
Im now using a 12” 500W sub. and have the bass rolled off at 20Hz…I’ve just got to stop making the wife sick!

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

Thanks, I will be playing with the crossover.

When I get a chance I’ll over correct <30Hz and gradually bring it up until something happens.

20-40 is an octave, so if you start the roll off at 40 with room correction, it will mostly affect 30 and below.

I don't know how all brands do things, but generally room correction setting start at the number you choose. Crossovers are down at the number you choose by the slope you set. I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong on this point.

 

[ernestcarl]

View attachment 346718Here’s the REW at MLP, sorry for the low SPL I had to squeeze it in between other tv users so near enough was good enough.
Also you can see I cut off +15k as I can’t hear it anyway. So if you want impact there’s something in this…

Whose listening seat is this?

As you probably already know, bass is dependent in the listening position -- which means you aslo better measure at the listening position your wife occupies.

 

[restorer-john]

I'm not a bass fiend myself.

The demand for excessive low frequency augmentation is inversely proportional to both age and musical sophistication.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Whose listening seat is this?

As you probably already know, bass is dependent in the listening position -- which means you aslo better measure at the listening position your wife occupies.

She was walking around the house, but it got me in MLP.

I’m not remotely interested in increased bass, I just want balanced, I just want to hear how its intended.

 

[dweeeeb2]

Little tweaking, seem to have stopped the nausea

 

[Looneybomber]

Nausea while playing music at a moderate volume? Were you playing Cardi B, Megan the Stallion, or anyone beginning with “lil”?

But seriously, do you have a fireplace and a carbon monoxide detector? That seems more plausible than bass sickness from a single 12.