How is bass suppose to sound like from a subwoofer? Your opinion

[hershon]

I'm very curious on how people on this board think bass is supposed to sound like on a subwoofer playing rock and blues CD's as I may not be setting up my system correctly for hearing bass the right way. The way my system is setup and has always been setup, is the bass sounds blend subtlely with the music and the "bottom". This means that when listening regularly to a CD, most of the time I don't hear a seperate Electric bass line being played unless I deliberately want to concentrate & listen for one and tune other parts of the music out, and I can distinguish the bass line seperately. Hopefully this makes sense to you. Even when I go to concerts, the bass playing is part of the bottom sound and I don't hear seperate bass lines being played unless I concentrate on hearing them. I personally do not like booming bass or a bass sound that overpowers the rest of the music. I'm interested in how the rest of you feel on this.

[chimera128]

Bass is a foundation on which all other instruments are built. It is the rhythm along with percussion. I think a balanced performance where you have bass lines being as easily heard as treble and midrange instruments is better than having a top heavy one. That doesn't mean that the bass has to be boomy or overpowering to be heard. It is a part of the music though and meant to be heard.

[cam]

I'm very curious on how people on this board think bass is supposed to sound like on a subwoofer playing rock and blues CD's as I may not be setting up my system correctly for hearing bass the right way. The way my system is setup and has always been setup, is the bass sounds blend subtlely with the music and the "bottom". This means that when listening regularly to a CD, most of the time I don't hear a seperate Electric bass line being played unless I deliberately want to concentrate & listen for one and tune other parts of the music out, and I can distinguish the bass line seperately. Hopefully this makes sense to you. Even when I go to concerts, the bass playing is part of the bottom sound and I don't hear seperate bass lines being played unless I concentrate on hearing them. I personally do not like booming bass or a bass sound that overpowers the rest of the music. I'm interested in how the rest of you feel on this.

It is hard to explain what bass is supposed to sound like. But when your bass is set up and blended perfectly, it will make your midrange and tweeter frequencies sound all the more better. Also the feeling of those bass frequencies will be in tune with all the other frequencies to give it that larger than life feeling. There is more to bass then what you hear, there is also what you feel and it has to blend with everything else to sound complete. I hope this makes sense, I'm on my fourth rye and coke.

[hershon]

I think that's how my system is set up, hopefully.

It is hard to explain what bass is supposed to sound like. But when your bass is set up and blended perfectly, it will make your midrange and tweeter frequencies sound all the more better. Also the feeling of those bass frequencies will be in tune with all the other frequencies to give it that larger than life feeling. There is more to bass then what you hear, there is also what you feel and it has to blend with everything else to sound complete. I hope this makes sense, I'm on my fourth rye and coke.

[Bryan]

For music, it should be clear, distinct notes. You should be able to separate the kick drum from the bass guitar. For HT, it should be clear and not boomy. For example, if you watch the ice crystal scene in Titan A.E. (Target and Wal-Mart have this for $5.50) the bass notes should be clear and impactful. If they aren't either you sub isn't up to par, it may need to be eq'ed, or you may not have enough sub for the room.

[skeptic]

For music, bass should sound like live music. That means attending concerts as a point of reference. I have commented many times that sound systems which measure flat and claim flat response down to some low number often sound as though the bass is lacking. Listen to a live symphony orchestra and hear as well as feel the sound of cellos and double basses even when an entire orchestra is playing. It is the weight which makes a symphony orchestra sound like a large serious ensemble. Listen to a pipe organ in a church. You will know when the organist is playing those pedal notes. You not only hear them, you feel them. Listen to a jazz ensemble. You can feel the drum as well as hear it. You can hear and feel the string bass as well. Even listen to a double bass or a cello in your own house, you will realize just how deficient most sound systems are at reproducing bass accurately.

Since recorded "rock" and popular music have no live counterparts to compare them to, their sound is usually purely subjective however, much popular music and most rock will please most listeners when the bass is strong, deep, and undistorted.

In an HT system, the ideal would be to duplicate the moviegoing experience. Bombs bursting all around you, Jet planes flying over your head, subway trains running right between your legs, earthquakes causing buildings to collapse, all require enormous bass capability. In fact, explosive capability. Bass you feel and hear at sometimes very loud levels. All of this requires excellent equipment properly installed and adjusted. Most home sound systems aren't up to the job. In my experience they aren't even close. And there are the complaints from the neighbors if it is.

[kexodusc]

Well the answer can be easy...bass should sound like whatever sounds best to you...if you like your bass boomy, bloated, and twice as loud as every other instrument, who cares what anyone else thinks.
If your goal is to reproduce what live music would sound like, then there's lots of good advice in Skeptic's post.

When I watch concert DVD's on my HT system, or listen to multi-channel audio, I find I get the most natural sound cutting off the LFE at 60 or even 40 Hz...for watching the latest DVD movie though, I love the exaggerated impact that 80 Hz gives...So I adjust the cutoff in my receiver according to the source.

Skeptic's right about "flat frequency response" systems often lacking bass punch. If you've ever attended some good live music, you'll notice that not all instruments are as loud as each other. Nor do the acoustics of the hall or auditorium have promote "flat response". That opens the door to alot of human error in the recording process as they try to guess-timate what it "should" sound like. I'm no recording engineer, but I can tell when too much or too little bass is given. The sound can get even more skewed depending on your room and equipment.

The trick is to find out where the sub performs better than your speakers at reproducing the most realistic bass as possible, and blending it in at that point.

There isn't a standard answer or formula. Some people don't even hear low frequencies as well as others. These people drive Honda Civics with tinted windows and 7000 watts of bass thumping really bad music, you can hear these people coming a mile away. That sounds "good" to these people.