Do most people prefer tight bass or non tight bass?

I prefer bass that is accurate to the recording.

The problem is you can't tell whether or not the recording is realistic.  You can only tell if the sound produced by your system is realistic.  And that means compared to live.

The problem is you can't tell whether or not the recording is realistic.  You can only tell if the sound produced by your system is realistic.  And that means compared to live.

When you compare it to "live" to see if it's realistic, are you thinking live from the front row, 7th row center, the back? Big hall or small? How can you decide which of these versions are best? How can you know what the actual conditions of the hall were like in order to know if the recording matches up and is realistic?

@theaudiohiffle This is true as far as it goes in reference to bass on any one particular recording. Playing a multitude of recordings over a relatively long period of time will expose tonal imbalances, non pleasing tonality will rear it's ugly head.

As for comparing to live, I'd suggest timbre is likely the only non variable we have for a reference. And even this problematic, what about amplification and sound reinforcement. And then we have synths and even analog instruments may have unique sound qualities, for example the woods used on any particular instrument, and this goes on and on. How about aural memory. I don't think many use live music as a reference anymore, home audio is far more about pleasing oneself.

You really need to find the right amp for the right speaker. You can also consider good subs, because a speaker with good bass will cost you $20k plus. Subs will also give you some flexibility to play with tubes, which many enjoy for the sound qualities.