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Tight Bass

I'm tired of hearing this term as it does not exist outside of the audiophiles world. Where does this term come from? Bass is not tight. It is loose, warm, enveloping, harmonically rich. What I hear from solid state amps and ported speakers is an extended low frequency without the definition and body that tubes and a good sealed box or transmission line speaker serves up. I equate tight bass with consticted bass and perhaps that is a question of semantics as I feel the bass should be full and round but not out of control, perhaps if those that use the term "tight bass" are actually trying to describe what I would term a "rich/ripe bass". I would like to hear some discussion on "tight bass", "rich/ripe bass" same or different terminology.
rhljazz
rhljazz OP
1,255 posts
 
Thanks for all the responses. It has helped me better understand the term. Sean's in depth response was very enlightening as was Najo on his perspective of the pace/timing aspect and the trade off he is happy with.
liguy
228 posts
 
Sean, the big advantage of solid state amps is that they tend to have very low output impedances compared to their tube brethren. The solid state amp therefore has an easier time sinking the back emf from a woofer allowing the bass to decay naturally instead of sustaining slightly longer. Because of the slight sustain some claim the bass to be boomy. The measure of the ability of the amplifier to sink the back emf is damping factor.
rmgcy
8 posts
 
I always like to compare the bass that I like to that of a basketball hitting the wooden floor. If the basketball is filled with air very tightly, the sound of the ball hitting the floor is "thin" while if you let a little air out, the sound is a little "fat" which is what I preferred. I don't know if that's what you call tight bass, loose bass or whatever. Am I making any sense?
pcc
150 posts
 
It's hard not to use the term tight bass. I was checking out subs the other day on the net and went to about 4 different sub manufacters and all of them used the term tight bass.
Najo, where do you find one of these subs that don't add the extra kick? I want real base and have not found it yet.
Pete
sc53
720 posts
 
Yeah, what Sean said is what I mean when I say "tight bass"!! I was just trying to describe a musical, non-boomy sound. Sean has given me the words now to describe the type of tight bass I hear from my ARC VT100 and Genesis 500s: wet bass.
Thanks, all.
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