Why do so many people have problems with bass?

I learned to love my Bass listening to Lesh and the Dead In the 70's live- I saw the "Wall of Sound" maybe 10 times and you could hear a drumstick break 50 yards away. The watts was  like 50, 000 and the system itself was famously built in the first place because the Bass needed a 40' standing wave to operate properly. For home use after owning many homes and many systems of only moderate means (SoCal); I could never get the real Bass I wanted to deliver and finally just sort of gave up. I Use a couple of Harbeth 30.1's now and I always must remind myself not to go get some Subwoofers- Tho I shop.

I've never had a problem getting low bass in my mid sized apt living room. Right now I'm using JBL 4319 monitors and with it's 12" bass driver, things rattle in my room. I even got some rattling (but not as much) with an older pair of Clearwave Duet monitors with just a 6" mid bass driver.

I don't understand everyone's dilemma, unless it's unnatural bass they're after. Those 12" drivers on my JBLs roll off below 40Hz and with proper playback, it's super tight, defined, textured as all get out and thumping when needed.

I'd look at one's set up further up the chain from the speakers if I'm having problems with bass response, unless the problem really is in the speaker design, in which case, you'll need better made speakers.

All the best,
Nonoise

Fascinating responses.

When I was shopping for speakers recently it was very clear the driver sizes for bass are getting smaller. The reason I was given is that most people like the smaller speakers, smaller more narrow speakers that they contend look nicer and wanted by consumers.. No matter how much I wanted to spend on speakers it was challenging to find larger driver size unless I really stretch higher.  My older speakers have 8 inch drivers which r a nice size for bass. To get these in a current speaker is extremely expensive because they don’t design speakers that way anymore.

It’s no wonder people aren’t happy with the sound. Personally I think all the challenging lower frequency areas touted as being a challenge to deal with is a lot of bs. Filling a room with lower frequency base should not be a big deal.

Physics and Driver size go together. You need wider main speakers with a decent sized bass driver or two along with a decent amplifier and problem solved, you have bass. You are a genius.

Current speaker designs with smaller driver sizes, and all the marketing and confusion are leading Music listeners Down a path filled with modern age deficient speakers and deception to sell more stuff.

In a room?

”boundary interference”

@jumia, volume = area * throw. Driver designers have gotten good at making longer throw woofers with low distortion. There are advantages to smaller drivers and a narrower cabinet. You can achieve better dispersion especially in a multi-way where the mid-driver and bass drivers may be the same size. It is easier to brace the cabinet properly. Multiple small drivers can take the place of a single large driver. It makes it easier to integrate bass and mid-driver due to move similar emission patterns. I think there is also the expectation you will add a sub for deep bass (most systems are dual purpose music/HT). Economies of scale by reducing the number of driver sizes probably helps for cost, and improves automation which is good for quality.