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Why is good, deep bass so difficult? - Myths and their Busters

This is a theme that goes round and round and round on Audiogon. While looking for good sources, I found a consultancy (Acoustic Frontiers) offering a book and links:

http://www.acousticfrontiers.com/guide-to-bass-optimization/?utm_source=CTA

Interestingly: AF is in Fairfax, CA, home to Fritz Speakers. I really have to go visit Fairfax!

And a link to two great articles over at sound and vision:

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/schroeder-frequency-show-and-tell-part-1
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/schroeder-frequency-show-and-tell-part-2

Every audiophile who is dissatisfied with the bass in their room should read these free resources.

Let me state unequivocally, deep bass is difficult for the average consumer. Most audiophiles are better off with bass limited speakers, or satellite/subwoofer systems. The former limits the danger you can get into. The latter has the most chance of success IF PROPERLY IMPLEMENTED.

The idea that large drivers/subs are slow is a complete and utter myth. Same for bass reflex. The issue is not the speed of the drivers. The issue is usually that the deeper a speaker goes the more it excites room modes, which the audiophile is then loathe to address.

Anyway, please read away. I look forward to reading comments.
erik_squires
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
Yes, buy a measurement mic

but even before that buy or borrow a copy of the Master Handbook of acoustics and learn a little about the physics - it will cut the time spent with the measurement mic by a lot

3rd... room tmts.

4th - bigger speakers or subs - a multi-sub setup can be very effective

and.. as per a post above - Get The Mid-range Right before anything else
audiokinesis
2,713 posts
 

geoffkait wrote: "I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears a big advantage of headphones is you can get very good bass performance without all the angst, effort and cost oft required to obtain very good bass performance for speaker systems. And that’s if you’re lucky and don’t actually make matters worse."

Headphones are a lot of fun, but they are not good for accurate bass reproduction. This is at least in part because a) we perceive bass, and in particular deep bass and impact, with our whole bodies - not just our ears; and 2) there is no room reverberation tail on the notes, and room reverberation done right improves our ability to perceive pitch accurately, plus room reverberation is a component of perceived loudness (sounds that last a little bit longer are perceived as being louder).

If headphones were good for bass, they would dominate in the recording industry. Mixing and mastering would be done on headphones. Instead mixing is usually done on small nearfield monitors, and mastering on big main monitors, and if headphones are used at all, they are never relied on to tell the truth in the bass region. Some beginners hope to rely on headphones for mixing in their "budget" home studios, and you can find and follow their painful learning curves on prosound forums... you know, where those other Acme graduates end up...

Duke

gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
One way to get smooth in-room bass is the distributed multi-sub system. Inevitably, each of the subs generates a unique in-room peak-and-dip pattern (and this is true for any listening location within the room). BUT the SUM of these dissimilar peak-and-dip patterns is significantly smoother than any one of them on its own.

This is one reason I have a *pair* of Golden Ear Triton Reference. Each one on its own eliminates the need for a sub, but the two of them (subs) combined sounds even better.


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
audiokinesis, thanks for the Acme Audio Engineering School lecture. Looks like this is going to be one of those he said, she said things.  😀

audiokinesis
2,713 posts
 

"This is one reason I have a *pair* of Golden Ear Triton Reference. Each one on its own eliminates the need for a sub, let alone the two of them combined." - gdhal

Yup, when it comes to using multiple bass sources in the pursuit of in-room smoothness, the more the merrier.

In general, with intelligently distributed multiple subs (and there are different distribution strategies), the in-room bass roughness is approximately cut in half for every doubling of the number of subs. So two subs are potentially twice as smooth as one, and four subs are potentially twice as smooth as two... and eight subs are grounds for divorce in most states.

"audiokinesis, thanks for the Acme Audio Engineering School lecture." - geoffkait.

I flunked the Acme Laws of Physics class... which teaches that gravity doesn’t start working until you look down...

http://commentphotos.com/gallery/CommentPhotos.com_1407347817.jpg

Duke

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