What is Tight Bass?

@asvjerry Hi J, you have a lot of good things going on, and a sound path that you walk. Indeed, that is the beauty of audio, that there are so many choices and so many roads. I think the road you picked is one that can work extremely well, and your enthusiasm proves that you are reaping the benefits. I am glad to learn from you, and our fellow audiophiles who post here. To infinity and beyond! ;

Cheers,

Janos

@mijostyn , *L* It’s nice to right, even if the source is suspect...;) *L*

Square wave sweeps seem to be accomplished by that which is deemed ’dry’ or ’too crisp’, although I tend towards that over ’warm’. This seems to fuel the ’tube vs. ss’ debate, which we ought to sidestep at this junction.... That gets flogged on a regular basis ’elsewhere’ here @ AG, and needs no replay here...🤞.

I’ve the calibrated mic already, and a batch of the gratis programs available and downloaded already, so the means and method are in place. ;)

Being able to ’see’ what’s ’line input’ contrasted to ’room response’ is instructive, esp. in my diy Walsh endeavors....it’s silly to expect them to sink to 20 hz. without ’argument’, and they weren’t meant to, either...

And that’s why I hand it off to a sub....and concentrate on what’s above 100ish hz.

I’d be happy to run a tube amp in lieu of my ss amp to hear the contrast involved, but that’s not in my dance card currently (pun not intended...). I’ll have to wait for infamy to be able to do that under duress....and yes, I’m teasing. *G*

@realworldaudio, thanks for your kind comments, and I’ve been committed to this line of irrationality for over a decade now....;)

I’ve achieved a sort of ’presence’, I guess:

https://www.google.com/search?q=diy+walsh+speakers&oq=&aqs=chrome.1.69i59i450l8.781244161j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

...and I appear 6x in the ’images’ link, which I think for a diy foray gives me some sort of odd gravitas on the subject....and bearing in mind the vid is 7ish yrs. old and shot with a ’point & shoot’ and a lousy mono mic in it...

What you see & hear is not current, no....but the concept is still under ’revisions’...
My goal is to put the soloist within reach, in a psychoacoustic fashion.

It does require a surround arrangement, but trying to keep it inobtrusive and subtle in a physical presence in one’s space, with a nod towards room treatments that don’t suggest ’recording facility’ treatments in an extreme.

It works, but I fried one of four prototypes in the process. Been working on improvements in the meanwhile to prevent that from occurring again.... ;)

As an omni/dipole enthusiast, and the rise of 5.1 & 7.1 in HT in general, I feel that omnis’ need to be developed and become a real ’player’ beyond what is currently available....
And I’m committed to try in my limited means to give it a go..."...not that it is easy, but because it is hard." to quote JFK, once upon....

*L* Don Quixote had the same problem, but my windmills are smaller and I lack a Sancho as a wingman....;)

"To infinity and beyond!" *L* Not on my bucket list...infinity is a very long time, and I’d doubt sanity would last that long within me... But a good cheer for my team of one....;) Thanks....

Regards to you both, I remain a J in process...

A dichotomy on amplifiers for good bass?  'Tight' if you like, but I prefer accurate, or true to the live event.

Some suggest only tube amps supply bass that reproduces the live event well.

Others that only solid state amps have the raw power required.

May I suggest the reconciliation is in the power supplies.  All accurate bass reproduction needs very stiff power supplies that allow the amp to control big woofers rigidly.  The best amps of every type have big power supplies.  When I switch on my big Krells the houselights dim as the huge capacitors suck juice from the wall.  Big ARs have massive transformers.

By the way OP, you mention electrostatic.

Sorry, you won't get any bass below 50Hz from an electrostatic, even though they're great at all points above. 

Many start to roll off at 80-90Hz.

Good speaker placement in a good room will give you tight bass. This is not hyperbole. 

I already had what I thought was good, tight bass and moved furniture around and the difference was remarkable.

I learned this back when I had Salk Song towers with double 5" woofers. I thought the bass could not get tighter or deeper from 5" woofers. They sounded like 10"-12" woofers after 6 months of 'exploiting' my rooms potential. No professional sound treatment was used...just a measuring tape. Subwoofer was put in storage.

Think of it like looking through a camera lens and believing what you see as pretty good. Then somone activates the autofocus and you realize what clarity really is. 

You're listening to speakers 'through' your room.