Scott:
I chose not to discuss the other ends of the audio spectrum because the topic was about "BASS"!
The issue came up simply because the frequencies above 150Hz can be produced with relatively little power...conversely, bass requires much more power, and for a single amp, the largest portion of power is absorbed in the reproduction of bass frequencies.
True, frequencies below 20Hz are "felt" and not "heard"...for that matter, few systems are capable of producing bass below 33Hz. Most "perceived" bass is in the range of 50-100Hz, the mid-bass "thump" as we call it.
As a keyboard musician, the voices I use on my instruments span the 20-20K Hz range, so I am quite concerned about reproducing the audio spectrum as accurately as possible. The "U-shaped" eq curve was an adolescent practice of mine, and today, the eq in my home studio (with 6" woofers in the monitors) is tweaked for the room acoustics, and the bass sliders are actually DOWN a few dB! Add processors and enhancers, and the mix is even more complicated.
I do understand the need for tonal balance, as I listen to smooth jazz and r&b, while allowing my daughter to crank up Britney and N'Sync, or my wife belts out BeBe and CeCe or some Mass choir...
The motivation for the system in my Bug originally was to get a volume that would allow me to actually hear music over the drone of the VW engine at highway speeds (with an unrestricted header exhaust)...it tuned me into the car audio hobby for a few years which was fun, and contests back then judged overall sound quality, and not just bass. Eventually, it was hard to keep up with the obsessive competitors who spend a king's ransom to win shows, so I got out of it altogether...
...I have three MBs that combined probably cost me less money than what todays IASCA competitors spend on their vehicle sound systems!
