2. misc-audio
  3. 180563-170489

Diagnosing inadequate bass in an audio system.

If you feel you have inadequate bass output from your audio system -

1) How do you confirm/quantify your suspicion aka what you think you hear as a problem?

2) How do you go about diagnosing the source of the problem, and how best to fix it?

Assume a CD source, DAC, preamp, power amplifier and floor-standing speakers.

 

Thanks,

 

Amit

amitb
erik_squires
16,009 posts
 

This is a very broad question.  I'd say you need to be more specific. :)

mitch2
3,910 posts
 

Try this.

carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

Excellent question which I think most don't understand.  

So do you want accurate bass or the exaggerated bass that is so often provided in cheap sound systems, car audio, etc.  

Most high end (accurate) systems will be judged to have inferior bass compared to a lot of consumer systems.

Jerry

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,315 posts
 

There are test discs with consecutive tracks with different test tone frequencies that go all the way down to 20Hz.  Get one and see where you start to detect a falloff in output.  More scientifically, you could see how they do with a SPL meter.  All that being said, yes, a ruler flat response all the way down to 20Hz, while also being very, very unlikely, may also not sound "realistic", whatever that means.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,543 posts
 

Get a loudness control.

More to discover