RBass is a saturator... Lowender is even better but it's also a saturator. I'm avoiding saturation...
MaxxBass is not a "saturator".
Because saturation adds new harmonics which causes distortion.
Yes, harmonics not present in the original signal are "distortion".
Now the questions are:
1) Is the distortion audible? If not, why worry?
2a) The distortion is audible, but is it disagreeable and makes music sound worse? If not, why worry?
2b) The distortion is audible, but does it makes music sound better? If so, why worry?
2c) The distortion is audible, it is disagreeable and makes music sound worse? If so, avoid!
So just saying XXX causes distortion is meaningless, because all distortion falls into one of the four classes above.
For example, your "Monitors" produce Distortion. A lot of distortion actually. If I read Amir's measurements correctly the SINAD is ~ 50dB above 1kHz and more like 40dB below 300Hz at an unknown SPL, I expect high but not earsplitting.
MaxxBass will remove low frequencies that cause a lot of distortion in your monitor speaker AND that, by intermodulation, causes audible distortion in the midrange and basically distorts the overall music in a highly objectionable way.
It replaces them with harmonics that cause your hearing to reconstruct the fundamental and hear it even if it is actually absent ONLY for the frequencies it removes. It does not affect the rest of the music spectrum. It means your speakers play louder more cleanly with subjectively lower reaching bass. It usually also works around room resonances in the low LF region now replaced by synthesised MaxxBass, leading to subjectively cleaner and punchier bass.
When I lived in London I DJ'ed at a lot of house parties and small venues all of which had major concerns about noise complaints. These are IME always caused by bass leaking through. My solution was to use Dipole (Open Baffle) Speakers (12" + 6'5" + HF ~ 98dB/2.83V) with the "nulls" oriented towards neighbouring properties and EQ to get them flat to around 120Hz and MaxxBass to get Subjective bass extension to 40Hz. Result, no noise complaints from the music, but noise complaints from people standing outside smoking and talking loud. You cannot win. But MaxxBass really works.
I've Fabfilter Saturn 2 but not using it. My goal is to control the low end without losing the punch as my room isn't suitable for a simple bass boost.
Get speaker setup right first. Then find what the real operational range of your speakers is. That is what frequencies they produce at the SPL you desire without affecting other frequencies badly. Then use a highpass to remove LF that cannot be played without muddying the midrange.
Replace what has been removed and more by adding a subwoofer or using MaxxBass.
Use parametric (digital) EQ to cut down room resonances. This is not convolution room correction (which has issues), but using a wobbled sine wave and SPL meter. The goal is to use the right Q and centre frequency to even out the LF peaks from the room. As Floyd Toole showed, doing that also cut's the resonant tail of these resonnances.
Then shape the overall frequency response according the right mix of common ground targets and personal preference.
Then the drums on Eagles "Hotel California" Live (famous audiophile demo track)
should be full, resonnant and with heft and "moist" like:
The drums on Rush "Spirit of Radio"
Should be dry, hard, with a rapid punch like:
If they are not like that, you neet re-evaluate your LF EQ.
My JBL monitors have patented ports at their rear panels. I don't know if it is a feasible option or not if I convert My JBL ported monitors to passive radiator monitors.
Passive Radiator and Port are different ways to employ resonance to extend LF response at the expense of phase-shift / group delay at levels that can be audible.
Blocking the port converts the speaker to a sealed box. This costs LF output (but not actually extension) but improves phase-shift / group delay.
The port in the LSR 305 is tuned to around 55Hz. At 40Hz LF output from the sealed box will be same as the ported version. Also, you get the same output at ~ 70..80Hz and upwards. So all the port adds is output below 40Hz-80Hz and it does so at the expense of much worse phase-shift / group delay at LF. With correct placement and EQ the sealed box version can play as low and loud and cleaner.
When I'm using Fabfilter Pro MB's "Dynamic Phase or Minimum Phase, voices sound harsh.
That does not mean you are hearing "phase-shift".
For example, your speaker adds 420 degrees of phaseshift from 63Hz to 4kHz. Does that make "voices sound harsh"?
You are perceiving a fidelity impairment if you use two dramatically different ways of performing equalisation. And you may in fact be mislead by expectation bias and audiophilia nervosa, meaning you are hearing something that is not real. I think it is important that you understand what you are really hearing. Controlled and blind listening (but not ABX) may help you be more clear.
You should probably also try listening tests with varying levels of Harmonic distortion and Phaseshift via good low distortion headphones to get a feel for what you actually can hear.
Thor
