Bass rant

Liz, I have done somework in theaters. Some older ones replaced nice altec or jbl systems for modern. The bass horns where removed now you have standard sytle pro subwoofers in most. These are run so hard most are in a constant state of damage. So your mostly listening to 1/2 blown woofers in many theaters. A few I know of have time frames for bass driver replacement in the 2 month range. Look for a THX or other claiming higher quality you will find better loudspeaker systems in these. Funny the old bass horns I pulled from theaters have drivers near 20-30-40 years old work fine the new stuff well...you find cooked voice coils or cones shreaded. After months.

I pulled from theaters have drivers near 20-30-40 years old work fine the new stuff well...you find cooked voice coils or cones shreaded

I am not surprised - woofer construction quality is appalling today.

I would have to disagree about woofer quality. Just for prosound most cheap out. Using the cheap drivers cost less when replaced, the standard bass cubes are cheaper than horns. Back in the day theaters used some of the better transducers available, today they mostly buy cheap. Still my favorite woofers are all new or modern designs. But not cheap for such. You need to use more power in non horns drivers can take a beating since so pushed and of cheap build. Thus the dammage.

Back in the day theaters used some of the better transducers available, today they mostly buy cheap

That was my point - $50 Made in China low quality wins everytime versus $1000 hand made and high quality from a boutique manufacturer for pro soudn applications...

Plasma and LCD have been out for a while and LED is just LCD on high-contrast steroids, so people are looking for the next sensation. There are non-brick and mortar sub companies out there on the Net are building earth shaking bass to fill the attention void. The folks who buy these units typically are car audio junkies, who use their HT for watching movies. They're not audiophiles and don't care to be. They want bass and the more they can get the better.

I recently purchased two Rythmik Audio F-15 subs for my HT. They are audiophile subs I've set-up for dual use. I purchased two in order to fill 5760 cu. ft. of space, prevent distortion issues and fill the space. I set them to one level for movies and another for music. I'm still searching for the perfect music combination, but I'm very close. As it stands today, the bass I'm getting is allowing my midrange and tweeter to shine like never before. I've got Hales C-5's and with the subs set to the correct level they're sounding more like Vandersteen 5A's. It's a nice addition to my system.