Speakers with deep/powerful bass


I used to have a system with large speakers. Each speaker had two 12" woofers. When I would play Hard as a Rock from the AC-DC BallBreaker CD there was a moment at 35 seconds into the song when it felt like someone was jumping on the floor behind me. This would only happen if my JPS Labs Golden Flutes were looped into the system, and it was playing very loud. Without the Golden Flutes it didn't happen. It was a truly frightening experience the first time it happened, because I was home alone. Has anyone else had anything like this occur?

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Anything jbl with 12 inch woofers or bigger. My jbl 4345 will shake the pictures off the wall and still sound dang good while doing it

My Focal Stella Utopias have no trouble energising my 'difficult' room.

They each use a 13.5 inch field coil bass driver, similar to the 18 inch one in the Grande Utopias. I'm a fan of drum and bass, a genre where the melody is in the sub-bass region, as wel, as root rockers and dub reggae, plus deep house. No other genres require more ,well-controlled, deep bass

My speakers are supported by four 18 inch Velodyne dd18+ subs, in stereo bass stacks alongside my main speakers.  I reckon I've got sota bass.

I have a pair of Altec Lansing VOT's driven by a Conrad Johnson Premier 4. I put on Aurthur Browns 'Fire' and give it the 'match test'; I hold a match about 1" from the woofer dustcover and the turbulence blows out the match. Yes, there is bass.

Legacy audio Focus XDs, dual 12 inch subs with active 700w per channel, my house and walls rattle, shake and boom like never before, especially with electronic music. Absolutely the best sounding and most realistic sound pressure level speakers for the money of any speaker I have heard. 

Bleh, 30 years ago I had some panasonics I bought at a PX.

they had either 18 or 20” woofers, 5 or 6 inch midrange and a horn tweeter with 3 buttons on the top for selecting which got more power.. drove em with Carver Silver Seven-t monos.

Those things were… loud and shook the rental house I had after ets..

cracked a few of the windows… the owner was not happy with me.. 22 and height of the rock era “and we had some fun.” I cannot even remember where or when I downsized.. but I always liked those speakers.

A pair of Thiel 3.5 speakers with its equalizer will give you full power down to about 20hz....enough that bass turns into a vibration as much as a sound.  The only drawback is that the speakers take at least 200 strong watts per channel to begin to handle equalized bass this low.

 

There are several ways to tackle obnoxious bass.  Obviously, you can turn down the volume, but if the bass still dominates you can try repositioning your speakers or consider bass traps and other room treatments.  An equalizer will get the job done but will likely alter the tonal balance and shrink the soundstage.   I am not a big fan of digital signal processing, but the technology is better than it used to be and could be considered.  Personally, I would ditch the big bass monsters and get more balanced speakers that work better in your room!

JBL 4350 and Everest DD67000.  We have a pair of each in our living room, on adjacent walls.  This thread has given me a few new tracks to check out.  

For deep full, impactful bass, as well as overall good sound with a large open stage, I'd have to give a vote to the old PSB Strats Goldi. 

@Sandthemall is right--it’s the room. At least part of it is the room.

My biggest system was Vandersteen 4s driven by tube amps >80 Hz and by a heavily modded Adcom GFA-555 amp <80 Hz. Prior to the mods the Adcom was a decent but unexceptional bass amp; after the mods it was a ridiculously good bass amp. The Vandy’s had a pair of 12" woofers mounted facing in the same direction & coupled by a steel bar. The enclosure was vented. That was the best bass I ever heard--tuneful, deep, taut, airy, all the stuff I now believe ported subs can’t do (Vandersteen was/is a genius speaker designer).

Our house was built in 1825, all wood. There were something like 9 windows facing the living room where the speakers were; also many shelves with knicknacks on them. All those windows and knicknacks vibrated audibly when deep bass notes were played. On deep notes that sustained, like low organ notes, the effect was downright alarming. You’d feel a weird fluttering in your abdomen as your diaphragm vibrated along with everything else.

I love bass (IRL music and in audio) and that was an amazing experience.

JBL 4350 will casually handle anything you feed them. I have a pair of them in our large living room, along with a pair of JBL Everest DD67000 on the adjacent wall. Playing a Simon Preston recording of Bach organ concerti, cranked up they shake plaster off of the ceiling.  Actually, either pair will, but the 4350s feel more dynamic. I wonder how they would sound if I ran them simultaneously.  Hmmm…