Loud vs. Tactile Bass

Are you talking home theatre or music?

The lowest bass under 30hz is great for home theater. Room shaking explosions and crashes. However, for music, the focus is a bit higher above 30hz in the 40 to 80 range. If you want the tactile feel of a kick drum the range could be even higher. To hear the 'skin' of a kick drum gains can be had all the way up in the 200hz range.

Music has very little 20hz information. Only the lowest registers. This deep, barely audible level has little to do with tight punchy bass.

On the other hand... 40 or 50 or 60 hz can punch you in the chest with music. Very tactile. So don't fall into the trap thinking lowest frequencies are the only way to get  tactile bass. Unless your goal is to feel the deep rumble of an earthquake.

gdaddy1 is correct. Virtually all the bass is in the lower midrange. Your room has a lot to do with it too.Standing waves and room modes will interfere with hearing clean bass.

Define your references….electric bass or standup heart n soul - the HARMONIC s…. are North of 100 hz and NOT below the mid 40’s…. 

If you have an RTA play a nice double bass solo….. 80 hz….. is just the beginning of UP……..

as you might guess, i think drivers above 12” suck…. cue  the efficiency / distortion crowd who don’t play bass…. ;-)

I think if you are looking for tactile bass you need a system that can produce frequencies below 60 hertz without excessive distortion. Depending on your room that can be a challenge. As some others have mentioned the room can introduce it own distortions. I have a subwoofer in my system with 2 x12 speakers and all it does is add that tactile sense to music. If I turn it up very loud it quickly gets annoying. It does really add that kick in the chest when set like loud compared to the rest of the system. Allot of packaged stereos in the 90s used to a have a bass boost setting or the like but I think they just raise the frequencies between 60 and 120 hertz. The fundamental frequencies of the kick drum. I found this web page which matches what I thought when I was doing amateur sound and recording.

http://virtualplaying.com/interactive-frequency-chart/

The hardest part of any system is getting the bass both loud and smooth.

Not sure if you mean you want sound effects level bass, or you want punchy music club type of bass. The former is around 16 Hz to 30 Hz. The latter between 40 and 80 Hz.

http://www.rotarywoofer.com

Your distinction is right OP and on target...

All headphones i ever used were able to give deep loud bass...

Not one give me tactile bass... Save my modified AKG K340 ... I listen big organ bass notes in a church with my toes and body ... The first time i was so surprized it felt like an acoustic hallucination...

 The reason is the way the dynamic  membrane  of this hybrid headphone and his 5 tuned  passive resonators acting as woofer are  able to go deeper without loosing any power under 40 hertz to 25 hertz, without any flowing from the deep bass in the mid bass ...

Erik_squires  will be able to explain it better than me about membrane design ...

My preference is for a tight accurate articulated bass that sonically seamlessly blends in with the rest of the audio frequency band that sounds like real instruments playing - sonic quality is the most important. I do not care for loud distorted bass often heard in cars which doesn’t sound like a real instrument. Feeling tactile bass is not a priority either.

In search for an articulate subwoofer, seems the Perlisten D212s/D215s might be one of the best - iirc a reviewer felt the room pressurize without hearing anything (it was below human hearing ability).

Many years ago I replaced 2.5 way with a bit larger 3 way speakers - same 30Hz extension, same amount of bass, equally tactile.
The difference was in the sound of the bass - attack and decay, became more natural, more melodic.   IMHO it is not between amount or speed, but the overall sound of the bass.

Very good description ...thanks..

The organ playing timbre as said kijanki is more definite because the playing timbre is defined by this attack and decay time, then the bass is not only there by amount or speed as said kijanki as much as musically there by the power of the attack with a clear sustained decay time...Timbre perception is the heart of music and acoustic perception....

Bass tone are not mere number in decibel and frequencies, their are for a musician a timbre with his attack and decay time . The way an headphone or speakers are able to convey the timbre tactile experience to the ears and especially to the body is what matter...It is not only about decibels and frequencies even if it is important for sure..

The difference was in the sound of the bass - attack and decay, became more natural, more melodic. IMHO it is not between amount or speed, but the overall sound of the bass.