11-06-11: IrvrobinsonMaybe your seat wasn't the best location to catch all the bass. ;) I go to the symphony several times a year and how well I hear the bass sometimes depends on where I sit. There's certainly more bass if you're seated closer to a wall. Then there's the auditorium acoustics (acoustics at Seattle's Benaroya Hall are excellent!) and the program itself. I favor big bombastic orchestral pieces and Holst's "The Planets" makes use of the full percussion section plus pipe organ. There's *plenty* of sub-30 Hz activity going on there. I'm a percussionist, and the 60" dia. concert bass drum has a very low fundamental. Piano goes down to 27 Hz and the contrabassoon goes down to just a half step above that. Let's not forget tympani either.
So, Johnk, just curious, what in music generates such bass pressures? I was just at the symphony last night, and it is remarkable how little bass a symphony orchestra generates during a typical program.
Think about what great subs would do for Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Host, Elgar, Shostakovich, Respighi, Debussy, Ravel, and Moussorgsky! Yes, there's plenty of sub-40 Hz energy going on in a live classical concert.
One thing I noticed about a live orchestral concert is the way the air in the hall is energized. The whole venue feels alive, and that seems to be the big plus with these super subs--they energize the entire space in a way similar to a live concert--something that a stereo pair of speakers very seldom does.