I tend to agree that Ralph's post is a good point, but doesn't that sorta more come down to a speaker thing (in most systems, anyway)?? Boxed speakers in particular...you know, that whole distinction or parting of ways between head thumpin', gut-kickin' or clubbing style bass (the sort of maximized, disembodied drum effect or thud, rather than the sound of the drum as a musical instrument...with a body, individual character and distinct location within the stage). I happened to go the open baffle route my last time around and wound up not having to deal with rear-wave and cone distortions or cab resonances. Power factor correction has given me rather taut bass, but I have to say that that combo of Very transparent bass And tautness seems just all the more unusual, now that I've come by it. I don't come across it much. I'd say taut bass can have a rightful place, and it can indeed be somewhere down the priority list, but that it seems to me to make far more sense after all the rest of the bass ducks are finally in a good row. (To me, from top to bottom, there's nothing like a good, solid and Focused fortissimo!). I can easily accept for example that there probably isn't that much tight bass in the middle of an orchestra, but within which halls, which orchestra outputs are being focused into what rows (if at all) is likely still up for grabs. And, yeah I'd say deep, tight bass reproduction and the disembodied drum effect combo can seem fun at first, but is (for me, anyway) ultimately fatiguing. But, I'm just saying that lately I'd come to think all that was more or less, primarily, a speaker thing??...or maybe a speaker in a box thing, I guess...??
