Is Bass Better in Stereo? The Pros and Cons of Stereo Bass

Matthew J Poes

Matthew J Poes

Audioholic Chief
Staff member
Whaaat?? Read the article?!

:p

J/K. I finished it up last night. Looks like a fun experiment at the least, but not very practical for my room.
it’s probably impractical for a lot of people. I have wanted to write this article for a long time but put it off. It’s such an esoteric and impractical topic for so many. Yet the science here is legit and I felt that people deserved a better understanding of this topic. Even if they will never experience it.
 
R

RichW

Audioholic Intern
My old DSP-1 had a stereo bass mode if I remember right, and I thought the bass was weaker sounding than the 2 subs both playing the same mono signal. And I couldn't really tell their was some sort of stereo effect. But if you have some good tower speakers capable of getting low, as well as your subs, then aren't you sometimes getting a stereo bass effect when you have multiple bass sounds coming from L & R channels as well as your mono subs, which to me do seem to widen the soundstage.
 
XDM

XDM

Enthusiast
Hello Matthew,

I think you actually just made a pretty strong case why we should set crossover to 60 Hz instead of 80Hz:

The lower limit likely falls somewhere between 50hz and 90hz. In any case, it suggests that bass managing below the lower limit won’t negatively impact the spatial effect. The problem is that the area in which multiple subwoofers tends to make the biggest difference is in the upper range of the subwoofers, between 50hz and 100hz. Some might argue that bass managing below 50-60hz is a good safe solution. Dr. Floyd Toole has argued that 80hz is fine as it falls into the range that some of the more recent research suggests is the lower limit of this effect. One concern I have with Toole’s suggestion is that there is still a significant overlap between the monophonic subwoofer and stereo mains. I worry this overlap could lead to significant disruption of the effect.

However, I do not understand how you go from the above paragraph to recommend against setting a 60Hz crossover for people without multi-sub?

"It is my opinion that smoothness and consistency in the amplitude response are more important than the spaciousness afforded by stereo bass. Given the choice here, I believe that it is better to stick to a mono bass system characterized by multiple mono bass sources spread throughout the room and crossed over at around 80hz. After experimenting with this concept and sharing it with other Audioholics, my end conclusion is that Floyd Toole is probably right. I say this with the utmost respect for David Griesinger and with the firm belief that he is generally correct in many of his assertions."

Especially for someone that does not have multiple subwoofers, what argument against setting crossover at 60hz, provided their mains can actually reach the upper 50s?

For context, my mains are two Bowers & Wilkins 607s (maybe will get some Dali Zensor 3s), I don't know if you'd consider them like the 'prime' bookshelfs in this video:
but I'm listening in a quite near field set-up (equilateral triangle with not much toe-in btw), so I don't need them to play loud at all.

I didn't see many real reviews (with measurements) for them, but the specs say:
range: 52Hz - 28kHz ±3dB
sensitivity: 84dB spl (2.83Vrms, 1m)




Why not set crossover at 60Hz for these kinds of setups and at least get some of that directionality/bass spaciousness that does exist in that content?

EDIT: Probably I will still set my crossover at 80hz, but for those with bigger mains and a mono sub, why not recommend the 60hz crossover so they at least have a chance to experience the stereo bass if the content they consume contains it.

With regard to content, you said: "the shorter answer is that stereo bass exists, it’s not a unicorn, there is actually quite a bit of content" - I guess especially in video games you will find content such as that, since it's mixed "on the fly" and it's mostly up to the user's chosen crossover frequency in the AVR that determines where the content is sent (sub or mains/surrounds)?
 
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DukeL

DukeL

Audioholic Intern
Hi Matt,

Excellent article! I was unaware that not all low frequency regions are equally important when it comes to "bassiousness". You have inspired me to make a revision to a design I'm working on, so that a bit more of the spectrum will be covered by multiple subs.

This is not the first time you have helped me. Thank you!

Duke (aka DL in YouTube comments)
 
Matthew J Poes

Matthew J Poes

Audioholic Chief
Staff member
Hi Matt,

Excellent article! I was unaware that not all low frequency regions are equally important when it comes to "bassiousness". You have inspired me to make a revision to a design I'm working on, so that a bit more of the spectrum will be covered by multiple subs.

This is not the first time you have helped me. Thank you!

Duke (aka DL in YouTube comments)
Awesome glad it helped.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Oh man... I just came really close to trying a stereo bass setup...
 
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