What is Tight Bass?


I’m confused. Speaker size with a large woofer…can it be tight?

is it about efficiency? Amp power? Electrostatic?

128x128moose89

@mijostyn --

".. good for you. It sounds like you are working on a great system. There are no passive crossovers in my system either, wouldn't do it any other way. The best crossover is no crossover, passive at least. In my system there is only one digital crossover for the subwoofers. Otherwise, the Sound Labs operate full range, 100 Hz to 20 kHz."

Thank you. 

Paradoxically (in a sense), as you might know with your own floor-to-ceiling Sound Labs, very large speakers can present sound in such a way that makes the listener less aware of them actually being speakers - not least compared to smaller speakers, and despite their imposing physical stature and presence. Spatially, smaller 2-way "monitor" speakers in particular are generally thought of as being good at the "disappearing" act, but their small size is an easy give-away to the mind that this is nonetheless a reproduction. This is where physics, size and height matters and with it a range of "macro parameters" that are vital for the more adulterated sense of music just happening in front of the listener with proper scaling, dynamics and a sense of effortlessness, more than coming from a speaker per se. 

Stuff like that interests and intrigues me, and I deem trying to accommodate core physics in audio reproduction leagues more important than cultivating ad nauseam a smaller, direct radiating package to eventually cost a fortune; it's still a small package, just like a gazillion $$ dome tweeter is still a dome tweeter, a small woofer is still woofer, the same with passive cross-overs, etc. 

With the Sound Labs you've taken the "no (passive) cross-over" part a step further by having a large "full-range" ESL element covering from 100Hz up to the human hearing limit, with no frequency divide between different transducer elements in this entire range - that's of vital importance. The only filtering applied, I assume, is a high-pass filter cutting off the Sound Labs below 100Hz (or thereabouts) to your subs. 

While I can't afford the luxury of such an approach with a wideband, floor-to-ceiling ESL element (apart from being a horn guy), I've sought the solution of a driver element pairing that in dispersion characteristics matches very well at the single cross-over point in the main speakers, making the sound rather wideband as well as unrestricted in overall size and height. Lately a non-audiophile friend of mine remarked how my current, large auditorium pro cinema speakers were actually the most "discrete" sounding of all my speakers these last ~20 years he'd heard (which includes smaller 2-way stand-mounted speakers), despite their largest size of all the speakers I've owned, because they "didn't sound like speakers" with "music just existing in front of him." That's the kind of feedback from non-audiophiles I like and appreciate, because they're not "conditioned" to our vocabulary nor prejudiced with speaker types, price and their segment origin. 

@johnnycamp5 

Hi. With help from Acoustic Frontiers, I was able to flatten the bass response significantly by way of sealing the ports and subwoofer positioning. My main speakers were creating a 60Hz resonance on the vertical axis that a crossover almost eliminated. I just received several half-round diffusers/bass absorbers that are fairly broadband but are efficient at 60Hz. Looking forward to hearing what happens after I install them. I agree with you that overdamping bass without affecting the frequency response is an unusual problem. 

+++@artemus_5 Bass is not sharp, quick or tight. Bass is more rounded with body and a slight amount of sustain which I call overhang.

When I hear someone say they want quick, tight or fast bass, I kind of scratch my head a bit. There is nothing quick or tight about 20, 30, or even 40 HZ. In every concert/live performance I’ve been to, deep bass was as much felt as heard. I don't think I would describe it as tight or quick.

In my system, I’m pleased when a Kick drum sounds like a Kick drum, a Cello like a Cello, a Double Bass like a Double Bass, etc - without sounding over blown and synthetic and I expect deep bass to be felt as much as heard.......Jim