Bass and Music (trance, etc.)

[sCiEnT]

When I play trance or other music with heavy bass on my computer connected to my Cambridge Soundworks speakers and sub I feel that the bass is stronger than when I play the same stuff on my HT System (Studio 100 mains, Rotel RSX1056 receiver and Seismic 10 sub).

That just does not make any sense to me. Can someone explain?

I understand the Cambridge Soundworks has its own internal crossover, but I have also played with the crossover settings on my receiver changing it from 80Hz till 150Hz (while leaving the crossover on the sub at 150Hz) to no effect.

Any suggestions, comments, anything...?

 

[Tex-amp]

You're getting cleaner deeper bass out of the Seismic 10 and bloated emphasized mid-bass from the CSW hence it sounds like more bass.

 

[claudermilk]

I'd agree, the PC system just has over-emphasized bass while your HT system is more balanced.

 

[sCiEnT]

I agree with all of you on the fact that my HT gives me cleaner bass. But how can I increase it without it becoming boomy?

 

[claudermilk]

Off the top of my head (and not having dealt with a sub in the HT as yet), if there's an eq in your receiver you can use that, or turn up the gain on the sub.

 

[furrycute]

I experienced the same thing when I had my computer satellite/sub combo, and then switched to a tower speaker/integrated amp setup. I definitely heard more bass from the computer setup.

 

[sCiEnT]

I am wondering if I should swap out the sub for a SVS Cylinder....

 

[Tom Andry]

I'm confused. If I read this right, you are saying that you have become accustomed to an inaccurate sub in one system, then, having acquired a more accurate system, want to modify it so that it is ...........less accurate?

And you think an SVS sub will do that... how?

The Seismic 10 looks to be a great sub and the rest of your components are all quality - it seems to me that retraining your ears to recognize well balanced bass is the next order of business. If you only play music on your HT system for a while and still miss the bloated bass – try increasing the gain on the sub, if that doesn’t work, get an eq and jack-up whichever frequencies you need to achieve the same sound.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I agree with all of you on the fact that my HT gives me cleaner bass. But how can I increase it without it becoming boomy?

I recommend that your next purchase be a Rat Shack SPL meter and a good test disc (eg Rives or Stereophile). You should measure the bass response you're getting at the listening position for both your PC rig and HT system. It's possible you just like more bass, but it's also possible you're getting negative room interaction in your HT room. True, some people just like boomy bass, as evidenced by all the kids with fart boxes in their car trunk, but you may just need to tweak what you have.

Providing the bass is clean and tight, I find some genres of music are more enjoyable with the bass elevated a tad beyond what's "correct." I don't listen to a lot of trance, but the appealing thing about it to me is the pounding "tribal" rhythm, and a bit more bass gets that across. So long as it's not loose and flabby.

 

[sCiEnT]

I'm confused. If I read this right, you are saying that you have become accustomed to an inaccurate sub in one system, then, having acquired a more accurate system, want to modify it so that it is ...........less accurate?

And you think an SVS sub will do that... how?

The Seismic 10 looks to be a great sub and the rest of your components are all quality - it seems to me that retraining your ears to recognize well balanced bass is the next order of business. If you only play music on your HT system for a while and still miss the bloated bass – try increasing the gain on the sub, if that doesn’t work, get an eq and jack-up whichever frequencies you need to achieve the same sound.

Oh no thats not what I meant. The bass on the HT is good and very accurate (as in, I think it conveys what information was recorded) but I also like to run it a little hot. Plus when I am listening to trance (or any other dance music) I would like the sub to really be felt. Increasing the gain does help a lot but it also tends to get boomy beyond a point.

The SVS is said to dig lower and the bass is (supposed to be) stronger.

 

[sCiEnT]

I recommend that your next purchase be a Rat Shack SPL meter and a good test disc (eg Rives or Stereophile). You should measure the bass response you're getting at the listening position for both your PC rig and HT system. It's possible you just like more bass, but it's also possible you're getting negative room interaction in your HT room. True, some people just like boomy bass, as evidenced by all the kids with fart boxes in their car trunk, but you may just need to tweak what you have.

Providing the bass is clean and tight, I find some genres of music are more enjoyable with the bass elevated a tad beyond what's "correct." I don't listen to a lot of trance, but the appealing thing about it to me is the pounding "tribal" rhythm, and a bit more bass gets that across. So long as it's not loose and flabby.

I have a RS meter and a DVE disk. Have the system calibrated but I haven't plotted out the bass response (or the HT's response for that matter). I shall give that a shot.

Btw is there a way that I can actually measure the frequency response of the system on my computer? It seems logical that since the computer can output the test tones and the mic input can feed it what is actually played back it should be able to plot the frequencey response. Do you know of any such software that I could use?

PS: I love music with tribal rythm but am having a hard time finding them, any suggestions?