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"Tight" bass requires bass traps and/or parametric bass EQ in most home listening rooms

I'm not sure if you're interested in this degree of "bass tuning", information, but I'll provide it anyway:

I've used both the original Shiva and Tempest drivers in DIY subwoofers.

My current DIY subwoofer uses one Tempest driver.

In my listening room, the bass frequency response from both the Shiva and Tempest drivers measured at my listening position is almost the same -- room acoustics affect the bass more than the sub driver and enclosure design chosen.

Of course a 15" Tempest driver has about 70% more displacement than a 12" Shiva driver, so the larger diameter driver has a significant advantage at high volumes (a 15" driver doesn't cost 70% more than the 12" driver but does require a larger enclosure).

In most home listening rooms the bass frequency response at the listening position will be +/-10 dB or worse from 25 to 100Hz.

That's not "tight" bass by my definition.

There is no subwoofer driver in the world at any price that will offset the effects of room acoustics on bass frequency response.

A dipole subwoofer enclosure (open back) will be less affected by room acoustics than ordinary subwoofer designs ("monopole") but many listeners find dipole subwoofers do not provide enough impact at the lowest frequencies.

To obtain a tight bass frequency response in most room, the tools used are bass traps and/or a dedicated subwoofer parametric equalizer.

You can find out more about these tools at the Asylum's Room Acoustics forum.

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  Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.  

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