Bass--How much is too much?


I have been into this hobby for over 25 years and have many many systems, amps, speakers, etc, and the one common thing they all had was that low end bass was either non-existant or was very subtle. It seems with most high end systems, the goal is mid-range purity over the amount of low-end energy. In the past, I have had systems tweaked to the point which vocals were rich that brought on emotional connections with the music, but without low-end bass energy, which can bring on a physical connection as well.

My system uses the Celestion SL700 SE speakers with the Celestion SL6000 Subwoofer system. Listening to this set-up, I have so much low-end energy which I have never had in the past 25 years. The low-end is clean, it does not distort the Mid-range purity.

I am a member of the Bay Area Audiophile society and through there have been able to listen to a considerable number of other peoples systems. None of them had systems with bass which could be phyiscally felt, none had a subwoofer. Bass notes could be heard and localized, but not felt.

I guess my point is, that I have grown accustomed to high-end systems which bass was merely used to subtly fill in the gap. I keep asking myself if my set-up now with loads of bass which i can feel is wrong. I have had a few other audiophiles come over and listen and they too are not accustomed to the amount of low-end energy which my Celestion 6000 subs put out.

I have heard many audiophiles mention that because of the huge problems integrating a sub into a 2 channel setup, they tend to not use a sub, is this the reason why many forgo the search to integrate low end bass into their systems?
128x128justlisten
I keep asking myself if my set-up now with loads of bass which i can feel is wrong

It depends....organ music, Black eyed peas, hip hop, rap and dance all have bass you can often feel.

If you are physically feeling the bass on all forms of music then there is something out of balance.

I have heard many audiophiles mention that because of the huge problems integrating a sub into a 2 channel setup, they tend to not use a sub, is this the reason why many forgo the search to integrate low end bass into their systems?

The issue is that bass energy is enormously difficult and expensive to reproduce accurately. A good sub that just helps with the bottom octave can cost as much if not more than both of the main speakers - all this for just the bottom octave!

The treble frequency range is the cheapest range of music to reproduce accurately (tweeters do this with relative ease and with little power). The mid range is much harder primarily because your ears are the most discerning in this range and this is where you have most music and vocals. However, physically, the bass is by far the toughest to reproduce without heaps of distortion. Since your ears are extremely sensitive to 100 Hz compared to 20 Hz, sub woofer harmonic distortion can easily bleed out of the 20 to 40 Hz range and ruin the bass from you main speakers. Linkowitz has a web page describing this issue. So trust him not me.

Linkowitz states

if the 40 Hz 2nd harmonic of a 20 Hz tone is at a 24 dB lower level, then it will sound equally as loud as the fundamental. This corresponds to 6% 2nd harmonic distortion. The 3rd harmonic distortion would have to be below 1%, or over 38 dB down, in order that it is less loud than the 20 Hz fundamental. It all leads to very low distortion requirements. The fundamental frequency sound pressure level needs to be above 70 dB to even become audible and it should not be masked by higher frequency distortion products.
For a detailed investigation of requirements see: Louis D. Fielder & Eric M. Benjamin, "Subwoofer performance for accurate reproduction of music", JAES, Vol. 36, Number 6, pp. 443 (1988).

Enough said.
I can easily "feel" bass with my gear...a physical pressure on the chest...it takes a good speaker design to achieve.At a live music show...especially rock, the bass hits you in the chest..I'm not talking one note boom either.
Larry
I'll make this simple....pop over to your local concert hall and buy a ticket to say....a large scale orchestra playing something with deep bass. Say, Rachmaninoff "Symphonic Dances". The tell me if you "feel" the bass.

I'd like to hear from all who attend concerts on what they hear. This should be an interesting thread.

Rick (RWD)
Kettle drums in concert I can sometimes "feel". Large string bass sections playing deep bass in the concert hall, no. The average symphony, I hear it, I don't "feel" the low notes.