Anybody Knows How Bass is Supposed to Sound?

FrantzM

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es347

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Hornets nest indeed. This is one area where live needs to be the reference. Live instruments really fill up a room quickly and fully. It comes at you in pressure fronts.

When in HK last year, Keith and I arrived on the red eye. Not wanting to venture out into the city for a meal we ended up in our hotel's bar which was just a bit larger than my room. Music started playing and without turning around, I told Keith, "Please tell me that is a real upright bass, because if not I'm quitting this hobby". It was a real upright bass with no pick up. You have no idea how relieved I was that the sound was not coming out of the clubs PA system. I was also pretty pleased that the bass was very much similar to what I get at home. A few days later, Steve is in the house and he comments that my room sounds like a real jazz club. Nice to get an unsolicited pat on the back :) I guess going to all sorts of clubs through the years has really influenced the way I voice my system.

..yes but according to Amir, Steve's questionable hearing ability calls his comments into question, no? :cool:
 

FrantzM

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..yes but according to Amir, Steve's questionable hearing ability calls his comments into question, no? :cool:

Can we drop this? It is IMO far from constructive ...
 

Al M.

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Detlof

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I certainly do not KNOW how bass is supposed to sound. There are memories of listening to Bach toccatas in a cathedral, the strumming of a base in a four man country band in the Swiss alps, wonderful jazz in a London Jazz club, long gone now, and countless evenings spent in various concert halls in Europe when I was younger. Bass as I think to remember it, is a myriad of tones, of textures of sub dynamics within dynamics, of harmonies. (I am just thinking here of the decay of sound alone from a Steinway Grand when the lowest octave is hit by someone like Richter playing Liszt) These are garbled memories. How do I know even, if I remember correctly. Of course I can attune my system to those memories as best as I am able to. I may like the results with some of the software I use and heartily dislike it with the next music I play.
I love Jazz, but even van Gelder did not get the bass right in every record he made. Or did he perhaps and all my twiddling was simply for nothing? I really hate the plump thump of the base in some of the so called great jazz recordings. Base does not sound like that. OK, to get away from all that subjectivity, let's try dsp: Wow, my speakers really go low and the room is fairly kind to me, but why is my music suddenly so frigging stale? So at the end I will settle for medium ground as always and sometimes like what I hear and sometimes not and since my x-over can be adjusted on the fly from my listening position, thanks to the good folks at German Physiks, the suffering is not as bad as all that.
No, I really do not know how bass is supposed to sound. Does really anybody?
 

amirm

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I'm chuckling right now because I've been called a bass head at times. :D YES! I am a bass head but only good bass please! :D No one note and worse droning bass like one would find on those insane car installs.
What? Exactly what is wrong with this type of bass performance?


Can the bass in your home clear snow that way? I don't think so!
 

andromedaaudio

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What? Exactly what is wrong with this type of bass performance?


Can the bass in your home clear snow that way? I don't think so!

You can see how powerfull bass frequencies are , makes you understand why you need heroically constructed bass cabinets, to avoid boomy cabinets / loss of dynamics
 

RogerD

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What? Exactly what is wrong with this type of bass performance?


Can the bass in your home clear snow that way? I don't think so!

Who gives a damn. I run from idiots like those. When his hearing goes completely in the toilet....oh well, youth is fertile ground for stupid. Most of us here listen to music btw..is that is not PC...oh well

You can see how powerfull bass frequencies are , makes you understand why you need heroically constructed bass cabinets, to avoid boomy cabinets / loss of dynamics

Yep that is why my dual sub weighs 1100 to 1200 lbs and I place 100 lbs on top of my Velodyne. Yes it does make a difference.
 

andromedaaudio

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I m uploading a CD organ recording of the strumphler organ in the eusebius church in arnhem , i visit/listen to it myself when i m there to do a reality check with reproduction :b.
You have the largest organ in the world , Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ in atlantic city new yersey , 64 ft pipe 8 hz , its also in the guiness book of records .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk_Hall_Auditorium_Organ
 

andromedaaudio

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Thanks yes , should also be a good lamm partner for example , thats why i mentioned it on the site , with the tubed convergent the soundbubble gets bigger
To me having a very good pre amp is key though.
 
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RogerD

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Yes. It's wonderful what 20 watts can do

Yes , it does capture the ambient quality well. No disrespect but you should hear what high wattage can do.
 

microstrip

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I certainly do not KNOW how bass is supposed to sound. There are memories of listening to Bach toccatas in a cathedral, the strumming of a base in a four man country band in the Swiss alps, wonderful jazz in a London Jazz club, long gone now, and countless evenings spent in various concert halls in Europe when I was younger. Bass as I think to remember it, is a myriad of tones, of textures of sub dynamics within dynamics, of harmonies. (I am just thinking here of the decay of sound alone from a Steinway Grand when the lowest octave is hit by someone like Richter playing Liszt) These are garbled memories. How do I know even, if I remember correctly. Of course I can attune my system to those memories as best as I am able to. I may like the results with some of the software I use and heartily dislike it with the next music I play.
I love Jazz, but even van Gelder did not get the bass right in every record he made. Or did he perhaps and all my twiddling was simply for nothing? I really hate the plump thump of the base in some of the so called great jazz recordings. Base does not sound like that. OK, to get away from all that subjectivity, let's try dsp: Wow, my speakers really go low and the room is fairly kind to me, but why is my music suddenly so frigging stale? So at the end I will settle for medium ground as always and sometimes like what I hear and sometimes not and since my x-over can be adjusted on the fly from my listening position, thanks to the good folks at German Physiks, the suffering is not as bad as all that.
No, I really do not know how bass is supposed to sound. Does really anybody?

Great post! I was going to write something in these lines - I can easily say what I remember as being the best sounding systems I have listened to, but if someone asks me for the best bass I do not feel able to answer. What are the subjective characteristics people look in bass?
 

andromedaaudio

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I can upload the same organrecording / bass guitar tomorrow , but then with the convergent JL 2 sign ( 100 6550 tube watts , might be more on KT 120 tubes ) see if one can hear a diff on you tube .;)
 

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