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I like ghdprentice's description. What I don't like is bass created by or enhanced by the room or speaker placement therein. You lose too much of the clarity available in your speakers. If your speakers are deficient in the bass, i.e. small monitors you might be able to get good tight bass using a sub, or 2 or 3, in a complementary location.
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Articulate Bass. Closest possible to the source instrument, sounds real.
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The world changed 15 years ago when main speakers began reducing the size of bass drivers.
I think humanity is suffering because of this.
Now all the modern day components have to deal with this issue but they couldn’t so now everybody has to buy large subs to address this deficient issue main speakers now have with smaller bass drivers.
So people wanted main speakers that looked better in living rooms because they were thinner. But this didn’t work out too well did it because sound systems now have to use a pair of subs and that creates problems when it comes to floor real estate.
I like somewhere between tight and non-tight. All about comfortable listening and migrating away from precise monitor like speakers.
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So I understand this correctly, the tight bass is the more accurate bass?
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So, the McIntosh has a damping factor of 40, and the Moon Audio has a damping factor of 800; hence, the difference in what you heard. I'll take the controlled, tight, more accurate bass of the Moon every time. Enjoy!
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Why not look at the Focal Sopra-2, I thought it would be bright - wrong it is coherent top to bottom , check it out and the reviews and very efficient.
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Most people prefer Non tight bass, especially at first listen. It sells better even though it's less accurate. That's one of the reasons bass reflex bass loading has taken over from closed box. Reflex loading has fuller , richer sounding bass but it is less accurate. Reflex loading can NEVER be as tight and accurate as closed box when closed box is designed for tight bass.
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Do most people prefer tight bass or non tight bass?
Almost all HiFi woofers suffer from this problem (woofer dynamic offset) see below:
''Woofer dynamic offset is a problem long known about but seldom discussed or treated. With high input power at low frequencies, many woofers tend to shift their mean displacement forward or backward until the coil is nearly out of the gap. This is most likely to happen just above each low frequency impedance peak of a system. The result is a high level of second harmonic distortion and subjectively a bass character that loses its tightness at high acoustical output levels [4]. The cure for offset, as shown by T, H. Wiik [6], is a restoring spring force that increases in stiffness at high displacement in an amount that counterbalances the reduced B field at the extremes of voice coil travel. Such a nonlinear spider will in fact reduce distortion and eliminate the tendency to offset.'' See full article here.
Mike
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I prefer a tight, accurate bass with texture (e.g., you can "hear the wood"). This is more a matter of the speaker rather than the amplifier, and I think that an accordion-edged woofer does a better job than a foam-edged woofer, regardless of size.
With respect to amplifiers, what most determines the "tightness" of the bass is the damping factor with the higher the factor, the more accurately the woofer follows the signal (i.e., is tighter).
"Damping factor (DF) in audio systems measures an amplifier's ability to control a speaker's movement after a signal stops. It's the ratio of the speaker's impedance to the total output impedance of the system (amplifier, cables, etc.). A high DF generally results in tighter, more controlled bass, while a low DF can lead to a softer, "flabby" bass sound."
When looking at woofer specifications, a higher BL factor would infer a tighter bass, assuming a similar impedance.
"In loudspeaker engineering, the BL factor, or motor force factor, represents the strength of the motor structure in a speaker driver. It's a critical Thiele/Small parameter (T/S parameter) that directly impacts a speaker's efficiency, sensitivity, and bass reproduction."
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The bass produced by both amplifiers are quite different, however they are completely different sounding throughout the rest of the range as well. Without getting into a heated argument, I gave up on tube amps a long time ago. The bass from a dc coupled amp, ime, follows any bass player, drummer etc. much more accurately, with greater speed, control and timing; superior start/stop, again, to my ears. I have had a few class D amps that also excel with bass, but overall, my large dc coupled class A amps do the best, for me. It is very personal and subjective, keeping in mind that the recordings are so varied. The producers of recordings are generally the ones who determine everything, from the mics used for vocalists, to everything else. Another thing....each component, more specifically the speakers / room / listening seat......heck, proper room tuning and set up, are all a huge part of obtaining proper and accurate bass, just as it is with sound staging and imaging. I hope everyone well. My best, MrD.
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Articulate, tuneful bass is absolute necessity for me. Resonant or one note bass once noticed can never be unheard for me. So stand up bass has natural resonance, this ok. As for overly resonant electric bass guitar, this no go for me. Tonal balance paramount, overly resonant bass will overwhelm mids and highs.
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It should sound like a bass instrument, guitar, drum etc. neither tight or sloppy but a musician should be able to hear what notes are being played or even what type of bass guitar it is.
Not sloppy bass with tons of distortion. Dynaudio are not famous for their bass extension.
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@dman777
Your speakers+amps pairing should be able to reproduce the quality of bass that’s on the recording.
@gdaddy1 and @audition__audio +1 on sealed LF enclosures
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A reason to go with sealed box main speakers. Accurate bass is the key.
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Tight authoritative bass. Listen to live music. It's seriously tight with no soft, bloaty bass. Even a bar Jazz trio has tight bass.
The reason for going with sealed subwoofers for music.
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It’s a matter of preference, room response, system character, and the bass in the recording. Ideally, it’s good for the system to reveal differences between recordings as opposed to having a constant bass characteristic/coloration, but nothing is perfect and many things can affect what’s heard.
My smallish Dynaco 70 tube amps tend to have a softer bass bloom rather than an impactful tight slam and extension, but it was often on the pleasant side, depending on the recording. Adding the VTA mods helped, but the best solution I’ve achieved for good bass with my room and system is to bi-amp with a solid state amp to the woofers for low bass (below ~65hz), and tubes from the lower mids (lowest vocal range) and up. Best of both worlds.
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I like lots of slam and impact with just the slightest bit of "bloom" and "rounding" to sound sweet and natural. High-power tubes amps (expensive) tend to pull this off really nicely. But if on a budget, you can’t beat solid state for bass - tubes on a budget can struggle here, relatively.
However when bass is truly awful, most blame goes to the speaker.
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I like my Bass battered with fries on the side.
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Tight, accurate… nuanced… which requires tight… no overhang.
Woofers have changed from big to small with greater throwawthey. An be much faster.
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Answer? Whatever bass response the recording calls for. Some recordings call for not so tight bass, and some have very tight bass. In other words, your speakers and your components should be neutral, and not effect the bass response negatively one way or the other. Happy listening.
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