Boy, there is some real wisdom in the above comments by @realworldaudio ! For most of us, our first experience hearing the low frequency component of music was sitting in our buddies 8x10 bedroom listening to Jack Bruce's electric bass with Ginger Baker whacking away on his bass drum, as reproduced by a 13 WPC Technics receiver through Cerwin-Vega speakers. Oh the horror of it all, the source was a cheap dual table with a $39 Shure cartridge sitting on top of one of the speakers. (Perhaps this is why so many of us fell in love with Clapton!) I might suggest this miserable excuse for reproduction of music was the basis for the "unique US phenomenon" to which real world alludes. It didn't take a discerning ear to figure out that Cerwin Vegas in a bedroom wasn't quite "right", so what was "right" must be the pendulum swinging to the opposite position. But no, that is not quite right either.
Real world gets to the heart of the flaw in the TAS theory. He points out that in the same venue, one can experience bass that is too loose, too tight, or just right, depending upon where one sits. But since all of these are real experiences of unamplified music in a live venue, they are all "right" in an objective sense. Choosing one of these three as "right" is a matter of personal preference.
For years, my preferred seat in my local symphonic venue was in the front row, less than 10 feet away from the cello section. This was in the Indianapolis Circle Theater, where as far as I was able to determine. there was no good seat. It is just a hall with miserable acoustics. I sat in the front row right in front of the cellos because that is where the cellos sounded best.. I sat there for enough years to become acquaintances with one of the cellists. I recall a conversation I had with him regarding why I sat in the front row. He told me to move my seat to the dress circle. He said "symphonic" means "sound together" and that is how this music is meant to be heard. I replied, that may be, but the ghost of LvB is not haunting me and the cellos sound better here!
My decision to move from SET to Atma-sphere's OTL WAS NOT because of low frequency reproduction. In actual fact, what I found was that every aspect of the music just sounded a bit better-more real-more right- in my room to my ears.
The absolute sound concept has value, but it has limitations. As real world so beautifully pointed out, the absolute sound is not a singular experience in the real world. It is a range of experiences all of which are possible within the same venue. Some like their coffee unsweetened, some like one spoon of sugar, some like two.
The most important component in any system is the ear-brain, the second is the speaker-room, and everything else follows.
I suspect that @hilde45 could add much to this discussion if he has time.
