Is there such a thing as "Too Much Bass" ?

[VRDUB]

My question is, should I buy the most sub I can afford (HSU VTF-3) and turn it down, or should I buy a smaller sub?

Room size is approx. 16'x14' with an opening leading to a stair case and a small computer nook.

I found a really good price on the VTF3-Mk2, but am unsure if it will be too much of a sub for my room.

Thanks in advanced.

[GMichael]

I believe that more is better. You can always turn it down. If you don't have enough, you have to go out and spend more, again.

[spf]

I would agree with GMichael mostly. It really depends on your tastes in music and HT. Some people want cracks in the foundation and expanding windows when they are watching their movies while others simply want to fill in the lower octave with pure clean sound. You'll find most people are somewhat in between. Buying a powerful, quality subwoofer will usually satisfy all groups, so then all that's left after that is the law of diminshing returns for your budget. Should you buy a $1000 sub if you are only going to listen to it at around 90-95dB tops? Most likely not. On the other hand, don't grab the $99 special from K-mart either since it most likely will sound bloated and muddy even at that level.

The HSU subs are all high quality and should work nicely. In an average size room such as yours, you would not be short on quality bass with a VTF-2 MK 2 . And at around $450, you'd save yourself about $200 as well. The only factor that would sway me to the VTF3 is the lower half octave of sub-bass frequencies that the larger sub could handle over the VTF2. Your ears will tell you what kind of sub suits you best. (Which is nice with HSU's 30 day money back policy) Good luck and good listening.

Shane

[VRDUB]

Thanks guys thats what I wanted to hear.
The deal I can get on the VTF-3 would actually make it cheaper than ordering a VTF-2 directly from HSU.
I'm in Canada so I'm dealing with one of their distributors here, he is trying to sell them all off as he is not going to continue selling them. Due to the fact that HSU is now selling directly to Canada thus cutting out the middle man. At least that's what he told me.

So I'm pretty happy to hear that the VTF-3 won't be over kill in my room.
Thanks again.

[nightflier]

To answer your original question: No, there's no such thing as too much bass. Go for the VTF-3 if you can afford it. You'll probably own it longer than you will be in that house and then who knows how large of a room you'll need to fill with good bass?

[JoeE SP9]

GMichael and nightflier are right. Get the biggest baddest sub you can. The larger ones always go deeper (a good thing). If there is to much bass lower the level.:cornut:

[Woochifer]

Too much bass would depend on the size of your room, and whether you take any measures to control for the fairly sizable boundary gain that could result at the low end with a formidable sub like the VTF-3. Your room is right around what I would consider a medium sized room, and those are the toughest ones to gauge.

I don't see any problem with going with the VTF-3 so long as you hook up a parametric EQ like the oft-mentioned Behringer Feedback Destroyer to tune your sub. Because the VTF-3 is a ported sub with a fairly low tuned port frequency, you'll have a very large gain in the low end caused by your room (ported subs tend to have a more linear bass response down to the port frequency than sealed subs, which tend to gradually drop off at a higher frequency).

The EQ will allow you to dial down the extremes that can make your bass sound boomy and overpowering. With a medium sized room, you will probably have at least one big boomy peak, and correcting that with a parametric EQ will make your bass sound fuller and more even.

Look up some previous threads on the Behringer if you want to find out more.

[VRDUB]

Yeah, I'll look into the behringer EQ you mentioned Woochifer. I'm gonna make a trip to the shop and hopefully have that baby in my place tonight.

Thanks for the great info guys.