LoL... Some of those enthusiasts are mellower and calmer than the average peeps here.
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How Deep Must the Bass Be?
- Thread starter audioresearch
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Nice setup.
I have some good phones and clean electronics too.
Personally, I think phones are only capable of delivering maybe half the experience of bass.
Bass is not just in the ears for me; it's an integration of what the ears hear, and the body feels.
That's when music comes alive for me...and for me it takes speakers (with balls
)Do you have a list?
Yep, gotta hear those panels buzzing and rattling 3 blocks away or your not really doin it. LOL
Frank, I consider you our resident expert on the whole vinyl engineering thing and I'd like your input on something.
I always felt the audio community went backwards with their love of low compliance MC cartridges, their required high mass arms,
and all the rest. What's your thoughts on the issue?
Headphones do not reproduce bass at all like speaker. So no, those "5Hz" is not anywhere near what bass from good subwoofers is.
Supposedly JDS Labs "left the SINAD race", but to me there are specs that are good enough (I quoted them above) and then I look at feature sets and usability foremost. I love the fact the JDS Labs Atom 3 allows me to switch between headphones and speakers with a single button push, while always remembering the volume levels. Prevents one entirely from fiddling with the volume level as you switch output devices, which is awesome to me.
My issue with headphones is stage, not linearity and certainly not lack of bass (because we can establish via measurements it is all there).Personally, I think phones are only capable of delivering maybe half the experience of bass.
Bass is not just in the ears for me; it's an integration of what the ears hear, and the body feels.
That's when music comes alive for me...and for me it takes speakers (with balls
For my own very personal experience, I don't like to "feel" bass. To me the experience is unpleasant. And living in earthquake friendly California not too far from the St Andreas faultline, it can be downright alarming.
I kid you not: two weeks ago we had a slow, rumbly 4.6-ish earthquake, and I was thinking "is this some a--hole neighbor that bought a new sub?"... I don't need shaky floors in my life. PS: By my seat of the pants feeI think it came at a 2Hz or so frequency. Doesn't get bassier than that.
PS2: I just also recalled - a friend of mine set up his theater system (quite high endish, McIntosh stuff all over it) and his personal reference is Arnold's "End of Days" which has an early scene with a jackhammer being used on the street, I think. He was screaming "Yeah, this FEELS like you're there, right?", and I nodded, but also thought "god give me some earplugs, and who wants a live jackhammer in their listening room?".
There sometimes is something like too much authenticity to stuff. There are things I'd rather not hear live...
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I could agree with you 50%.
The thing is, a system capable of decent 16-20hz delivery earns big dividends in the freq above that in low distortion, etc.
If you would then filter out everything below say 30hz you would not notice any change in the vast majority of sources.
But replace that system with one that falls apart trying to play anything below 50hz at 90db, IE a small stand mount 2 way,
and there is a world of difference with a large portion of all genre.
I don't dispute that the least. As stated, bass *does* matter to me, no doubt about it - and I have clearly optimized my environment to deliver on a level of performance I am entirely happy with, and which Dirac approves off, too. At 20Hz, my 2:1 system supposedly does 20Hz at -3dB-ish. My headphone setup on the other hand is +/- 0.1dBish, It honestly makes little difference to me. I also admit I seldom listen to anything over 88ish or so SPL. I also know I have very sensitive ears, even when I was a teenager and we went to concerts, my friends would revel in the sound while I would get a splitting headache and often used those waxy earplugs we had in the 80s, if anyone else recalls them. I was also the earliest earplug adopter among all of my motorcycle riding friends at a very young age (I know you are a fellow rider, too :-D).
I think the problem was you weren't getting high enough.
At loud rock concerts I've used earplug for many years. The best ones were always at hand, you break off the filter from a couple of cigarettes, roll that filter between your fingers till the fiber filter comes out of the tan paper. Then you just roll that up like a foam earplug and stick it in your ear. Works a treat and it's free.
I have 8 Ino audio profundus Y passive 12" ported subwoofers (6 in the front, 2 in the back), 16Hz -1dB.
The analog crossover filter for the subwoofers is Ino audio, CR80s (30dB/octave, 78Hz).
The top-speaker for above 80Hz is Ino audio i64s and one i32s as center.
The front top-speakers is driven by two Sybarite audio No1200 monoblocks (2x1400 watt @ 8 ohm)
The subwoofers are driven by a 4-channel VTV PASCAL L-PRO2S (4x400 watt @ 8 ohm)
A Denon AVR-X3600H receiver for HT and as pre-amp.
Oppo and Panasonic BD and UHD players.
Denon DP59-L turntable with a Audio technica AT-OC9/III cartridge and Holographic audio RIAA Two phonostage.
Room treatment by Ingvar Ohman professional acoustician and the guy behind Ino audio. I'm VERY pleased with the room, the sound is amazing and the bass is awesome (the RT60 between 30-200Hz is between 0,4-0,25s).
Better to be this type of insane than some others in audiophilia I can think ofJesus Christ man, your insane.
I mostly play music quite low. But it's nice to have the ability to play it out loud. And the feeling of having a system I don't have to worry about a soundtrack or a song causing the speakers to distort or break is really nice.
I have 8 Ino audio profundus Y passive 12" ported subwoofers (6 in the front, 2 in the back), 16Hz -1dB.
The analog crossover filter for the subwoofers is Ino audio, CR80s (30dB/octave, 78Hz).
The top-speaker for above 80Hz is Ino audio i64s and one i32s as center.
The front top-speakers is driven by two Sybarite audio No1200 monoblocks (2x1400 watt @ 8 ohm)
The subwoofers are driven by a 4-channel VTV PASCAL L-PRO2S (4x400 watt @ 8 ohm)
A Denon AVR-X3600H receiver for HT and as pre-amp.
Oppo and Panasonic BD and UHD players.
Denon DP59-L turntable with a Audio technica AT-OC9/III cartridge and Holographic audio RIAA Two phonostage.
Room treatment by Ingvar Ohman professional acoustician and the guy behind Ino audio. I'm VERY pleased with the room, the sound is amazing and the bass is awesome (the RT60 between 30-200Hz is between 0,4-0,25s).
Beautiful space! A room and system that I'm sure is an incredible experience!
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