Not sure either what shelved bass means.I think the bass sounds more natural with tubed components,more like live music.If you have the right tube compliment of course.As you put it,when you get "all your ducks in a row" it's wonderful!
Does Shelved Bass Help With 3D Effect?
3D is a house of cards. For me it entailed speaker position, FFRC cables (I'm on a crazy budget) and Bugle Boy tubes in my linestage. Up until then I had nothing even close to 3D, but suddenly with those three things organised I've got amazing holography. My question is this: Once you have all your ducks in a row, how much of holography is down to the shelved bass that happens with tubes? Solid state always seems to put the bass (wonderfully) in your face. I realise that solid state can do holography too, just wondering if shelved bass is the reason tubes have a reputation for 3D?