The best bass ever heard (and possibly affordable)

[andreaemme]

Recipe for best bass, get the biggest woofers with the highest BL factor and the lowest Rms you canget away with. Don’t use smaller very high Xmax woofers to get the same displacement because they all sound like air pumps instead of real bass and be sure to have tweeters that can handle the same dynamics. Want better bass, by better tweeters (no joke). Forget 5 inch, 6,5 inch drivers, they sre distortion generators below 200Hz. Once used to the sound of big woofers you will wonder how on earth you fooled yourself all these years believing small woofers could produce any realistic sounding bass.

I couldn't agree more with that! I hate all those multi-little-woofer often badly tunes to make big noise, still looking for a good big woofer loudspeaker kit or brand with acceptablr cost..

 

[Disco-Pete]

JBL

 

[profiguy]

I couldn't agree more with that! I hate all those multi-little-woofer often badly tunes to make big noise, still looking for a good big woofer loudspeaker kit or brand with acceptablr cost..

It really depends on the driver choice. There are some small ones that do sound very good with lower THD, usually very low Fs, Rms, Le, high BL and Qms. Put that in acoustic suspension and it rewards with very good bass, especially in multiple driver setups. The cost of such drivers usually makes it not worth the expense, as you can buy suitable much larger drivers for the same or less.

 

[profiguy]

JBL

The new Neo push pull drivers from JBL are very good ie 2265HPL, 2268HPL

 

[Disco-Pete]

They don't disappoint when used as intended.

 

[AllenB]

often badly tunes to make big noise

😥

 

[Brett]

I don't get why they only use +-3mm when they are able to do +-25mm (you won't need a special speaker for these +-3mm) and you easily could do the same with half the speakers and a way simpler construction but hey

Distortion.

 

[kaameelis]

And all of these have about a magnitude less stored energy than the room modes in your living.

Are you sure? Bass reflex had also huge amount of stored energy on tube/box volume resonance frequency.

 

[youknowyou]

Are you sure? Bass reflex had also huge amount of stored energy on tube/box volume resonance frequency.

Are you serious?

 

[Bigun]

Problem Solved!
You can still get a pair of Wharfedale E90’s

https://www.wharfedale-e-series-speakers-specialists.co.uk/speakers/

 

[scholl]

2 pair of manifold loaded infinite baffle AE IB15s. Super clear, low distortion and shakes the hair on my arm. That's if the source has the material.

 

[djn]

I'm an old bassist, electric and standup, and a bit of a drummer so I like, no, demand, great bass. I didn't really make any progress until I focused on my room. I have bass traps in all four corners. I have subs in all four corners, and I spent a LOT of time setting them up.

In the front I have two DIY subs using 12" drivers from the top-of-the-line Martin Logan Statement E2 speakers in old hand made corner cabs using Bash 300 plate amps.

In the rear I have two 18" subs in DIY cabs from a church.

I never listened loud just wanted accuracy.

 

[AllenB]

I never listened loud just wanted accuracy.

Nice. The four corners configuration you mention is one of the preferred predetermined layouts. It seems to fill things in spatially, enough that you can get good results with the right EQ.

 

[youknowyou]

funny that the multiple subs is now fully accepted as suitable HIFI method.

NO studio in the world use this. They use extensive room treatment to have good clean bass. I begin to think they know better.

 

[AllenB]

If the room were to absorb enough of the bass that the direct sound becomes dominant, then multi-subs would be redundant. As it is, absorption at low frequencies is recommended to work together with multi-subs.

 

[markbakk]

Are you sure? Bass reflex had also huge amount of stored energy on tube/box volume resonance frequency.

Pretty sure.

 

[norman bates]

I see the validity of staggered subwoofers.

My vertical double 15's had better bass with the cabinet up and down than side to side.

I assume it helped "fight" the standing wave floor to ceiling (smallest dimension).

 

[Flaesh]

NO studio in the world use this. They use extensive room treatment to have good clean bass.

If one can afford to treat a living room with a thickness of 2-4 feet on all surfaces (except the floor and, may be, one wall) - he\she\they definetly may prefer this to subwoofers.

 

[youknowyou]

I see the validity of staggered subwoofers.

My vertical double 15's had better bass with the cabinet up and down than side to side.

I assume it helped "fight" the standing wave floor to ceiling (smallest dimension).

I do know that it helps, but its still a HUGE compromise compared to a very well treated room. multiple sub approach is a nice compromise, but far from being the best option. however, many start to suggest being the best approach

why NO major studio in the world uses multiple subs?
why do studio spends so much money on acoustic?

If one can afford to treat a living room with a thickness of 2-4 feet on all surfaces (except the floor and, may be, one wall) - he\she\they definetly may prefer this to subwoofers.

treating all surfaces would be a bad advice.. Just treat all corners. and do put reflective material in front of your bass traps, otherwise youll have a overly dead room.
Bass traps do take a lot of space, but the SQ jump is ridiculous when you have adequate bass trapping. the bass tightens so much its not even funny.

 

[AllenB]

I went down that road some time ago. It made a positive difference but I'm inclined to say multi-subs has the potential to overcome the modal variations more completely... Now, maybe that's the point of the excercise or maybe it's something else, but I like the result.