How high is the Bass??

[BenzOnline]

How high does anyone adjust the bass on the stereos in their bass?

I have a w126 with 6x9 speakers in the back and the bass I keep pretty much high. I dont like bass that would rock the whole car, but maybe the same level of bass a w140 has. I remember though, getting a ride home from school in my freind's dads w140 and he put some techno music on and cranked it. WOW, what sound!

[BenzOnline]

Someone told me once to not put the stereo loud when its cold in the car because the speakers are cold and may crack or something. Does it matter of the temperature?

[Ashman]

Set the bass as high as you can att he volume level you want, and keep setting it higher until you get distortion, then bring it back down until it doesn'tdistort.

That will give you maximum bass.

I have mine set at -1 on my stereo as my 10" sub puts out the bass I want to hear and if I want it louder, I turn up the subwoofer volume level on its amplifier.

Alon

[mikemover]

Cold (or hot) temps should not affect a quality speaker...They are designed for cars, and all the extremes of temperatures and such that goes with it. I have read some manufacturers manuals that recommend you don't operate thier tape decks/CD decks below certain very extreme temperatures, but I guess the radio would be OK...no moving parts. Also some amplifiers may overheat in hot weather if not properly ventilated. If the paperwork that came with your equipment makes no mention of temperature, then I wouldn't sweat it.

Mike

[300EVIL]

Rubberized surrounds on sub drivers can break in extremely low temperatures (EX: 10 Deg. F) . If you ever want to go deaf, I installed my friends 88 olds with two US Amps 400's and four 12" cerwin vegas. When sitting in the car, on mid volume it will make your nose itch incredibly! No Kidding! Oh well,, he likes it. Hope his spleen dosn't rupture. Seriously!
Adam

[G-Benz]

Since I have OEM systems in all of my MBs, there is no teeth-shattering bass to speak of. It doesn't take much tweaking to get distortion out of the underpowered OEM systems.

The Bug however, has two 10"s driven by an Alphasonik amp pushing 75 watts per channel...not huge by any standard, but in a small interior like that car, it has presence! Note that this is a very old install (competed in the low-power class back in 86-88), but it still rocks!

At my age, I don't really listen to music at ear-splitting levels anymore...I played in a number of road bands in my early days, as well as did a few DJ stints, so I have had my share of JBLs and Ampegs pushing 120+ db behind me.

Now as a church musician in a contemporary Christian band, I am situated in front of the bass player and the drummer and I have two JBL stage monitors in front of me...I get more than enough bone-jarring bass I need for the week!

[longston]

Originally posted by Ashman
Set the bass as high as you can att he volume level you want, and keep setting it higher until you get distortion, then bring it back down until it doesn'tdistort.

That will give you maximum bass.

Well Alon, I can see you won't be producing any hit recordings in the near future...

And here we also have two professional musicians responding who don't have anything to say about mid-balance, transient response, or the fact that no one can actually hear low end frequencies below 20hz?

What most people call "bass" is actually best reproduced with a punchy mix of strong mids and highs to supplement and enhance the low frequencies. In a professional sound recording studio, there are usually three separate sets of monitors used for mixing. One of these actually have 5" woofers. The intent in the studio is to meet a standardized equalization "curve" that allows fairly uniform playback of recorded material through any playback system.

Try turning the bass down and adding some mids and treble until you achieve a better mix of frequencies that allow a more accurate reproduction of the original recorded material. It'll be punchier and have better definition.

Of course, everything of this nature is subjective, and governed by a person's taste, sophistication, and ability to actually hear certain frequencies.:p

I have a Blaupunkt "Boston" in my MB driving the stock factory speakers. I have four levels of "XBass bass Boost" available in the receiver. I don't use them. I have my bass control set on 3, and the treble on 5. I can listen to everything from Wagner to Snoop Dogg and get great transient response and punchy bass. And I usually prefer music with a strong rhythm section.

[Ashman]

Scott I used to work at a stereo shop. Most people there wanted to be heard before seen.... hehe

I always set my levels to low levels, crank the volume up to as high as I can get it, then add bass and treble until it doesn't distort.

I then set my sub volume level up higher to produce the thump I have grown to enjoy.

I try to get the interior speakers pumping out as little bass as possible while still providing decent mid and highs. But a radio with no built in eq wont be able to tweak those very well at all. Which is why i added a subwoofer.

I am by no means an audiophile, but I know how I like my music to sound in my car. The way I have mine adjusted, you would not believe the sound quality from the factory speakers with an aftermarket radio, subwoofer and amps.

Yes I do know I need more mid bass, that I can achieve easily with some better speakers than factory.

The way to get maximum bass out of a speaker is to use my method. Get the volume as loud as you can without distortion with bass all the way down, then bring it up until it is at the highest it can be without distorting.

Pretty much if you play with it, you can find a little less volume on the whole setup can produce better bass if the bass can be turned up more at lower volumes.

For me the best bass is felt not heard. If you want bass, get a subwoofer.

And I have no musical talent scott, you are right about that.. hehe I tried playing several instruments, and failed at them all because I have no rhythm. Its taken me years to even be able to dance to music and hear the beat. hehe

Alon

[BenzOnline]

Thank you all for the help. I tried Alon's method and it worked pretty well. There was no distortion and the bass is high enough that you feel it in the seat.

Keep the opinions coming

[G-Benz]

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!

[longston]

Greg, I know you are well acquainted with mixing live sound and recorded music, and have enough style and taste to Eq your system correctly. And I also know that you understand that BASS isn't made up of just low frequencies, but a blend of complementary harmonics. I'm just pointing out that you (and Mike) do know enough to correct the pups that don't know any better, so please add your knowledge.:p

Pumping up the bass to distortion level and then backing it off is like over-torqing head bolts. It doesn't make sense (at least to me), and can possibly break something. Too much bass is muddy, undefined, and distorted, creating a warped image of the original program material. There's maximum bass, and there's proper bass for accurate sound reproduction. But then, I usually listen to music with my ears, not with my butt...

I also know that there are marked differences in hearing between younger and older people as well as men and women. It's common for young males to be more sensitive to high frequencies than older males. For instance, my seven-year-old son can't stand the high frequencies emitted by pest repellers That's why the "thumpbf thumpbf" sound systems are popular until you reach 30 or so. To me, it's distorted, over driven, and obscenely inaccurate sound reproduction. But boys crave excessive bass like toddlers crave candy. And they crave it because they can't hear it as well as they will when they get older and their hearing curve changes. Interestingly enough, I very seldom see young women driving around with these sound systems blaring away in their cars.

Try setting your bass and treble at the halfway mark (5), adding enough volume, and then adjusting the bass and treble up or down to accomodate your individual taste. As Greg pointed out, it takes more power to drive the low end than the high end, so you will get more power out of your system by driving them as close to equal as possible. If you overdrive your amplification system, you will only get harmonic distortion, and low power.

[Kuan]

The W140 probably has a subwoofer, that might explain the wow factor. Harmonics are produced through the whole signal path. A subwoofer which plays a pure bass tone, let's say 36Hz, will produce its own harmonics due to the reactive properties of the enclosure, the materials and so on, but not before the amplifier stage produces some of its own harmonics. That 36Hz tone, if coming from a kick drum will have its accompanying harmonics produced at the source itself. An ideal amplification system tries to be transparent. It will not introduce any harmonics if you don't overdrive the unit. If it's recorded too hot on tape you will get harmonics. In fact, any gain stage, if overdriven, will produce harmonics... some desirable, some not. Anyway, what is my point? If the recording was made without overdriving any of these stages then you'll get at least the harmonics produced by the instrument itself. This gives it its timbre. Tweeking the eq to bring out these harmonics makes it sound unnatural and forced. You also run into all kinds of phase problems if you tweek the eq too much. I'd say 3db is about the max difference you should have between any frequency. Remember, 3db difference requires twice the power, so if your're already pushing 40 watts out of your 80 watt amps, you're gonna double your power draw.

Kuan

[BenzOnline]

Thank you for the posts but they are getting too comlplicated now and too technical. I AM 19!!!!! I just wanted to know who listens to their bass at a high level or low level?

[G-Benz]

What'dya expect in THIS forum?

You ask what time it is, and we'll tell you how to build a clock!!!:p

[mikemover]

hahaha.....very True!