GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Some Observations about Science and Bass

Post Subject: I don't see the problem.Posted by Vasyachkin on: 7/18/2010

I don't see the problem with getting 20 hz bass.

You have to keep in mind that the average signal levels at 20 hz in MUSIC are quite low ( compared to signal levels @ 40hz - 80hz ).

When i ran a quiet sinewave sweep on my system it seemed the driver will pop out of the basket at 20 hz, but when i played music MUCH LOUDER than the sinewave sweep the driver was fine.

You have to think about the musical instruments that you're reproducing. Let's say you're reproducing a kick drum that displaces a finite volume of air during a kick - then your woofer only need to be able to displace AS MUCH air on the stroke even if there is a 0.0001 hz component to the kick sound.This way it essentially boils down to having a system slightly larger ( in terms of cubic feet ) than the instruments it must reproduce.

I mean if you look at a speaker like Genelec 1036A driver-wise it has the same kind of drivers as are used in systems that roll off at 40 hz. But instead it rolls off at 20 hz - and it is simply because they tuned it for Studio rather than dance club use. They did however go with substantial cabinet volume.But when i said i like a lot of bass i didn't mean that i like the system to reach to 20 hz ( which i do like too ) but rather that i like when there is more bass at ALL frequencies.

Here is the frequency response of the earbuds i am using when i jog:

graphCompare.php

It comes pretty close to my idea of proper bass. Oh and by the way i use "deep" EQ preset on my iPhone with them. Of course aerobic type activities seem to call for ( much ) stronger bass than sitting back in a chair just listening. Also depends on the mood - sometimes too much bass makes me tired, at other times i can't have enough.

The problem with Servo as i see it is that accelerometers aren't designed for music. Theoretically it makes a lot of sense to use servo ( accelerometer ) bass, but in practice you are at the mercy of that piece of silicon. I am sure accelerometers could be developed to the level where they would be musical but i don't think anybody is working on that.

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