In regards to the terminology that you've chosen to use, i would instantly think of "rich / ripe" bass as being a by-product of either a tube amp and sealed speaker or a sturdy ss amp / vented speaker. Many people call this "musical" bass. This means something that sounds slightly round, lacks a small amount of definition, typically has a small rise in the 60 - 120 Hz region, comes across as being slightly "wet" and "full" sounding but is not "accurate" due to ringing and poor rise time in terms of measurements. This does not mean that it is not enjoyable to listen to, only that it is a matter of personal taste.
"tight" bass is low frequency response that is capable of fast attack ( rise time ), holds the note for the proper duration, has natural decay with the proper pitch and harmonic overtones and does not ring. This obviously takes both a well designed speaker AND an amplifier that can control or deal with the reflected EMF from such a speaker.
"dry" bass is what happens when "tight" bass becomes "too tight". Notes do not decay naturally or have any harmonic overtones to them nor is the duration of the note quite as long as it should be. This gives the impression of very "quick" bass but one that is lacking overall "oomph" or "body". Overall bottom end extension may or may not be lacking, depending on the individual design. Even if the bass is extended, it will never come across as being "authorative" due to the lack of sustain during extended notes or passages.
"boomy" bass can be the result of poor speaker design, poor placement, bad speaker / amplifier matching, poor room acoustics, etc... The end result is that very specific frequency ranges are highlighted while others are minimized. This results in what one percieves as "one note" bass, poor attack and definition, lack of tonality between different notes, "ringing", "hangover" or notes with TOO much "sustain" i.e. "bloated", etc... On top of this, even though there is more "apparent" bass, the bass that is produced is typically not extended in terms of the last octave of reproduction. All of these pretty much summarize the response of the car audio "boom boxes" that create "indistinct thuds".
In terms of dynamic drivers, sealed boxes with a reasonably low Q (.5 to .7) will do best at this. This is followed by transmission lines and aperiodic designs with the various "slop" produced by ports, vents and passive radiators bringing up the rear.
My "ratings" are based on optimal designs for each method as ANY of them can be made to perform and sound bad. Of course, each of these has their various benefits and drawbacks and that is why there are so many different designs and bass alignments. It is a perfect example of "trade-offs" and "preferences".
Once the speaker system is "right", it is up to the amplifier to deal with the load that it sees. As such, SS amps have a VERY pronounced benefit in that they typically do not have to load into a huge inductor ( matching transformer ). As such, they can respond faster and direct the energy to the woofer instead of having to waste both the time delay and energy ( heat ) of going through the output transformer. SS amps can also typically produce much higher current levels, which helps them "tame" the big motors that a quality woofer requires to function properly. Then again, matching a tube amp that is slightly "fuller" or "wet" sound with a speaker and room that has "dry" bass can result in a very musical AND relatively neutral system. The bottom line, once again, is system synergy and personal preference. Sean
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"tight" bass is low frequency response that is capable of fast attack ( rise time ), holds the note for the proper duration, has natural decay with the proper pitch and harmonic overtones and does not ring. This obviously takes both a well designed speaker AND an amplifier that can control or deal with the reflected EMF from such a speaker.
"dry" bass is what happens when "tight" bass becomes "too tight". Notes do not decay naturally or have any harmonic overtones to them nor is the duration of the note quite as long as it should be. This gives the impression of very "quick" bass but one that is lacking overall "oomph" or "body". Overall bottom end extension may or may not be lacking, depending on the individual design. Even if the bass is extended, it will never come across as being "authorative" due to the lack of sustain during extended notes or passages.
"boomy" bass can be the result of poor speaker design, poor placement, bad speaker / amplifier matching, poor room acoustics, etc... The end result is that very specific frequency ranges are highlighted while others are minimized. This results in what one percieves as "one note" bass, poor attack and definition, lack of tonality between different notes, "ringing", "hangover" or notes with TOO much "sustain" i.e. "bloated", etc... On top of this, even though there is more "apparent" bass, the bass that is produced is typically not extended in terms of the last octave of reproduction. All of these pretty much summarize the response of the car audio "boom boxes" that create "indistinct thuds".
In terms of dynamic drivers, sealed boxes with a reasonably low Q (.5 to .7) will do best at this. This is followed by transmission lines and aperiodic designs with the various "slop" produced by ports, vents and passive radiators bringing up the rear.
My "ratings" are based on optimal designs for each method as ANY of them can be made to perform and sound bad. Of course, each of these has their various benefits and drawbacks and that is why there are so many different designs and bass alignments. It is a perfect example of "trade-offs" and "preferences".
Once the speaker system is "right", it is up to the amplifier to deal with the load that it sees. As such, SS amps have a VERY pronounced benefit in that they typically do not have to load into a huge inductor ( matching transformer ). As such, they can respond faster and direct the energy to the woofer instead of having to waste both the time delay and energy ( heat ) of going through the output transformer. SS amps can also typically produce much higher current levels, which helps them "tame" the big motors that a quality woofer requires to function properly. Then again, matching a tube amp that is slightly "fuller" or "wet" sound with a speaker and room that has "dry" bass can result in a very musical AND relatively neutral system. The bottom line, once again, is system synergy and personal preference. Sean
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