Why not the piano as a reference for bass
I see a lot of commentary/reviews on a systems bass response that all seem to hinge on the 41 hz double bass and such range. At 27.5 the A0 note on a piano seems a better point to judge. Lots of piano in normal music vs say an organ note. I know when I feel that deep chord played it is one of things I enjoy about listening the most! Was listening to Wish you were here live and the piano was sublime.
So is it more of how much musical energy is perceived in the 40 hz range or what that makes this more of a reproduction benchmark?
I welcome your input!
New Joe Bonamassa out BTW!
Yep, that bass is a plucked double bass but on the released track it was 'doubled' by a bass electric guitar, according to the clip. My point was that there is much more you can do with a double bass than just pluck it. With classical music you can go to concerts which are not subject to electronic manipulation so there is a real reference for judging reproduced sound quality. A bowed double bass will make all your drivers work hard, including the tweeters! |
One of the interesting things about the piano is that the pianist’s ’touch’ does not alter the harmonics present in the note being struck. The best example I can give of this is the astonishing recording of Grieg’s Piano Concerto released in multiple surround sound formats by the Norwegian label 2L.no - see GRIEG Piano Concerto - Percy Grainger, Kristiansand Symfoniorkester, R – 2L Music Store Originally recorded on piano rolls in 1921, the new recording has a full symphony orchestra and a modern Steinway piano, played mechanically! This is one of those unusual recordings where both the performance and the sound quality are superb. Percy Grainger was a very interesting character, being Australian, a pianist, a composer, an athlete and a sadomasochist. His ideal instruments would have been synthesizers, but they were yet to be invented. I can’t let this go without mentioning the Australian designed and built Stuart and Sons’ Concert Grand Pianos, some of which extend the ’standard’ 88 note keyboard to 108 keys with the lowest note a subsonic 16-Hz |
No doubt the electric piano was attempting to sound like a real piano? When I play the lowest note on an acoustic piano, the amount of sound energy output is pretty directly related to how quickly I press the key. There is no artificial limit, and no shortage of sound either. The key mechanism is mechanical, not some electronic switch or sensor. And the whole piano resonates |
@richardbrand , my investigation into the loudness of the fundamentals and first few overtones of the lowest piano notes was based on the spectra of those notes played on a grand piano, as I figured that would be applicable to amplified electric piano. I presume the electric piano was "attempting to sound like a real piano". My customer said that he used the same model electric piano as Elton John. He mentioned it to me but I don't remember the specific model. I think it was a Yamaha. |
Thanks for the clarification! I don’t agree that the low notes on a modern grand piano (piano-forte or soft-loud) contain so little energy that they do not merit being reproduced. Bosendorfer and Stuart keep extending the keyboard downwards! I don’t think Beethoven would have agreed either - he was very quick to extend the range he wrote for when gifted pianos which went further up and down! There is of course a fundamental difficulty in judging sound quality against amplified sources - there is no original to compare to. Anyway, I use soft piano music to judge atmospherics and double bass for bass impact ... but the main thing is to enjoy your music |
