You are all invited to participate in this experiment to test the idea that a high C50 value as measured by REW equates to good, tight sounding bass. The idea here is that some value of C50 may correlate to subjectively good sounding bass in listening rooms. We're specifically looking at the C50 value in the bass and lower midrange, lets say 800hz and below, approximately. I work at ASC and our general experience is that for small listening environments like we have in our homes a C50 value of at least 10dB throughout the bass range is desirable for good sounding bass, with 15dB or higher being excellent. I have a small sample of client measurements and feedback so far that seem to correlate well.
Any thoughts or suggestions about this idea are of course highly welcomed.
It would be great to get some measurements from people who are hearing muddy bass as well as those who feel the bass in their rooms is very tight and clear. And anything in between.
To participate, here's what to do:
Measure a sweep with REW at your listening position with both (or however many) speakers playing.
Post the C50 plot.
Tell us how clear or just generally good the bass subjectively sounds to you. Comparison to headphone bass clarity is welcome.
Tell us a bit about your setup - how far you are from the speakers, what type they are, how big is the room, etc.
Here's mine.
The room is 14.5 feet wide. The speaker tweeter centers are 10 feet apart. The microphone is at the listening position 9 feet from the tweeters. The speakers are large corner horn speakers, with bass cabinets stacked to the ceiling. The room is about 22 feet at it's longest, with some staggering of the back wall. It opens up to the kitchen and hallway.
My impression of the bass clarity is that it is overall good. I can follow acoustic bass lines as easily as I can on the headphones and nothing seems to boom, although the headphones do sound tighter and smoother, especially below 100Hz. There is a cancellation at about 80 hz at the listening position, hence the lowered clarity there. That region is an audible problem if I listen for it, although the cancellation zone is actually quite narrow so often it goes unnoticed with music.
Any thoughts or suggestions about this idea are of course highly welcomed.
It would be great to get some measurements from people who are hearing muddy bass as well as those who feel the bass in their rooms is very tight and clear. And anything in between.
To participate, here's what to do:
Measure a sweep with REW at your listening position with both (or however many) speakers playing.
Post the C50 plot.
Tell us how clear or just generally good the bass subjectively sounds to you. Comparison to headphone bass clarity is welcome.
Tell us a bit about your setup - how far you are from the speakers, what type they are, how big is the room, etc.
Here's mine.
The room is 14.5 feet wide. The speaker tweeter centers are 10 feet apart. The microphone is at the listening position 9 feet from the tweeters. The speakers are large corner horn speakers, with bass cabinets stacked to the ceiling. The room is about 22 feet at it's longest, with some staggering of the back wall. It opens up to the kitchen and hallway.
My impression of the bass clarity is that it is overall good. I can follow acoustic bass lines as easily as I can on the headphones and nothing seems to boom, although the headphones do sound tighter and smoother, especially below 100Hz. There is a cancellation at about 80 hz at the listening position, hence the lowered clarity there. That region is an audible problem if I listen for it, although the cancellation zone is actually quite narrow so often it goes unnoticed with music.
Last edited: