[Mag]

Okay, I'm resurrecting this topic I posted several years back. Hopefully I'll get some feedback this time around.

My speaker knowledge and experience is limited. Haven't heard panels or electrostat speakers. So anyone with more knowledge feel free to amend the list.

Normal bass- ordinary bass that one can expect from a typical bookshelf speaker.

Accentuated bass- usually from a smallish speaker trying to sound large to compensate for lack of size.

Punchy bass- Bass that comes from a smaller standmount type speaker, can be very fast.

Hard hitting bass- Usually from typical speakers with 8" drivers. You can feel the bass.

Slam bass- Hits harder than hard hitting bass that hits you in the chest. Drums sound like drums with quick attack. Very fast and clean sounding.

Heavy bass- bass from 15" drivers that can knock you on your butt.

Sonic Boom bass- Usually from a powered sub. Very fast and clean, sounds like a sonic boom.

Sloppy bass- bass from a cheap sub, lacks detail, can sound boomy in the wrong room.

Boomy bass- bass from a speaker that's under powered.
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[NoDisco]

One More Maybe: Room Bass: The type that is limited to the type of room you have?

[FullRangeMan]

I always liked big cones for bass as 15''  so I thought the 18'' could even better but was disappointment, the bass was slow, cone heavy and too much power handling for hi-fi.

[WGH]

Natural bass - always there but not noticeable until that 15 Hz note comes alone.

[FullRangeMan]

Tangerine Dream Bass: only time I had heard 30'' woofers shaken for a month.

[Early B.]

Authentic bass -- 99% of 2-channel audio systems get it wrong. The fact that you defined so many types of bass sounds is indicative of this.

When you go to a live concert, a properly mic'd bass guitar sounds like...ummm...how shall we say it... a bass guitar. But when you come home and turn on your system, it can sound completely different, i.e. not authentic.

[AvsFan]

Authentic bass -- 99% of 2-channel audio systems get it wrong. The fact that you defined so many types of bass sounds is indicative of this.

When you go to a live concert, a properly mic'd bass guitar sounds like...ummm...how shall we say it... a bass guitar. But when you come home and turn on your system, it can sound completely different, i.e. not authentic.

It also depends on if you like that 'live" concert venue sound. Which I most certainly do. It's why I have been through so many amps, dac's, pre-amps and most importantly speakers. I have had a merry go round of speakers in my home. I FINALLY feel like I got it right! My ZU Audio DW's and the amps I have them mated to sounds like Les Claypool slapping the bass, Brad Wilk pounding away on his drums, it sounds real! Every instrument sounds vastly different. Authentic bass is what I like. I am there with you. Now obviously, rap, edm and so on is not "real" nor live sounding bass but it sounds good on my system. 

[Mag]

Listened to a concert dvd today, the recording was good but not transparent. So I had the volume around 10 o'clock position, not near as loud as I play excellent concert blu ray recordings, and both my amps went into thermo shutdown.

This tells me if my thinking is correct. That achieving concert realistic bass, isn't just a function of type of speaker/s and power. It also requires transparency or minimal distortion in the recording.

[Freo-1]

One needs lots of power from the amplifier to get bass to sound close to accurate. 


My speakers sport two 10 inch drivers, are 90 db/w, get down to 20 Hz, transmission line design, and are powered with mono amps that output 500 watts per channel. 


The bass sounds natural,  and has good proportion relative to the overall performance.  Drums and stand up bass sound correct.

[Freelance22]

(not sure if this thread is still active, but here goes nothing)

After decades of 2-channel audiophile systems in various living rooms, I'm now down to desktop audio (prominently involving headphones) in my home office. The main system has my current favorite speakers (big 2-ways, vintage KEF 103.2s) powered by my current favorite class D amp (Wyred4Sound ST-500). The bass is augmented by a high quality 10" sealed sub, the JLAudio e110.

So what's my point? It is that all this is made possible by a sonically transparent, well designed electronic crossover. Mine is the Marchand XM66, a 2-way that allows variable crossover point setting (usually I keep it at 75 Hz or 80 Hz). The high pass and low pass slopes are 24 dB/octave. Every tactic I tried before this crossover to gets the mains working vs the sub were failures of one sort or other. But this electronic crossover--which I purchased used for $500 about 4 years ago--just works. Problem solved.

I will never attempt to integrate a sub into a 2-channel system without this unit or something like it.

[Early B.]

So what's my point? It is that all this is made possible by a sonically transparent, well designed electronic crossover. Mine is the Marchand XM66, a 2-way that allows variable crossover point setting (usually I keep it at 75 Hz or 80 Hz). The high pass and low pass slopes are 24 dB/octave. Every tactic I tried before this crossover to gets the mains working vs the sub were failures of one sort or other. But this electronic crossover--which I purchased used for $500 about 4 years ago--just works. Problem solved.

I will never attempt to integrate a sub into a 2-channel system without this unit or something like it.

Yeah, bass needs ample adjustment features to get right for your room and listening preferences. I don't buy full-range speakers because I want separate subs, not only for placement options, but also to adjust them independently from the mids and highs. Regardless of price, full-range speakers can be a significant compromise in sound.     

[Freelance22]

Full-size floorstanders definitely can challenge a room.

Years ago I had a pair of the then-current TOTL Vandersteens, the Vandersteen 4, with powerful integrated subwoofers. I used a strong SS amp for the subs and a powerful stereo tube amp for the mids + uppers (Vandersteen's back panel had multiple speaker outputs + switch in or out jumpers for mid-to-upper, actually allowing tri-amping if necessary). That was my first exposure to real subs, also the best sound I ever heard in my life.

I know more about audio than I did then (mid- to late-80s). I suspect one reason those big 4s lit up my LR so wonderfully was that Vandersteens preferred first order crossovers used throughout (6 dB/octave) + the staged physical setback of the midrange enclosure & tweeter enclosure, relative to the big integrated subs, maximized time alignment of the speaker's output. That, in turn, would tend to minimize some of the objectionable room effects that floorstanders can produce. My living room wasn't very large, but the furnishings, rugs, and well hangings provided ample diffusion/absorption. That sound ruined me for life.

But looking at megabucks floorstanders w/integrated subs anything near the SQ of the Vandy's ... it just looks like room boundary trouble to me.

All to say I'm in agreement (pretty much) with what you say about subs + mains being the way to go.