General Asylum

Posted by willkayakforfood (A) on December 23, 2011 at 17:46:21

In Reply to: RE: "Gut-massaging bass is for teenage boys.. and 'wanna-relive-their-youth' guys." ... posted by andyr on December 23, 2011 at 13:12:24

I'm spoiled. Most of my experience with music has been live - lots of it. I'm either playing it, or listening to it.

I've heard and played alongside many pipe organs - from tiny chamber organs to massive pipes that occupy some of the world's largest cathedrals. Did I mention that I'm spoiled? :)

I listen to a great deal besides organ music as well, so while most of what I listen to doesn't reach the depths of a large pipe organ, there's no reason to expect my system to not reproduce whatever notes are necessary in the course of playing any given piece of music.

My idea of audio system bass is whatever it takes to realize whatever notes should be present - with reasonable balance, and with ease (Hz to spare, so to speak). The reason for wanting this "Hz to spare" ease is of course primarily a musical concern (if the notes are there, they should be heard), but also in terms of the audio system itself, the only way to achieve good balance throughout the frequency range is to not have to unnaturally boost an arbitrary range of bass just to hear those lowest fundamentals. If a system is rolled of by the time it reaches the lowest notes, the urge will be to turn up the bass to make up for this roll off, and this will indeed destroy the preferred overall balance (to become "unmusical", as it were).

Ease of frequency range reproduction is important throughout the range - and it's no less important down to the lowest note. One of the essential aspects of allowing oneself to "become one" with the music is to be able to relax. When I begin to hear overtones masquerading as low bass because the fundamentals have wimped out, my senses cringe a bit - as if trying to help the system along, by sheer force of will to coax those missing notes into magically materializing (kind of like listening to someone struggle with their intonation, and my nose scrunches up in an attempt to bend those errant notes back into sublime harmony). Just as with the nose scrunching intonation adjustment, with a rolled off low end, the cure just isn't there, so the patient's pain cannot be mitigated. With a system that can, with complete ease, produce all the necessary fundamental pitches, one can relax, and simply hear, perchance to feel the music.

My floor standing speakers claim a low end of 40Hz (acoustic suspension - no port), but by the time they reach 40Hz, several decibels have already been lost in space. In addition to all the Classical music I listen to, I listen to a good deal of Jazz - both acoustic and amplified. With basses that can play down to 40Hz, it's only reasonable to strive for a system that can maintain a flat response comfortably below 40Hz. With this, there's the required ease of reproduction without any need to unnaturally boost the bass. Adequate extension, with balance.

I've added a 12" subwoofer (also acoustic suspension, sealed enclosure) to my system, and just that extra bit of breathing room makes all the difference. Though not perfect (can't quite reach a comfortable 16Hz, but does well enough down to about 20Hz), it's certainly better than just getting along with a rolled of 40Hz. Someday, I'll work on achieving the lower reaches of the possible - but it will no doubt require some expense to achieve this while maintaining the quality of sound I feel the music deserves. For now, I'm just happy to have this extra bit of relatively clean extension beyond what my floor standers can accomplish alone.