Low frequencies

[Native_bon]

I suppose bought them cause of 5* rating?

 

[nopiano]

The B&w is in -6db....the other speaker one God knows...

Minus 6dB at 52Hz looks about right. The other specs are likely the 'range' rather than a limited response, so might be 10dB or more down by then.

 

[lindsayt]

It's a physical impossibility that you will get good bass from your b&w 685 s2 speakers.

A 6.5" driver in a small ported speaker cannot produce good bass.

He is saying he like the bass when he plays a cd so how can the bass be to small?

In the opening post he said that with the CD player he had good bass that was not too punchy.

Something may have been lost in the translation, but by my definition if the bass isn't punchy then it's not good bass.

Also it's like when I had an LP12 into an EAR 834p into a 300b push pull into Linn Isobariks (in an 18' by 24' room).

I wasn't getting realistic bass from that system. What was the cause?

 

[expat_mike]

In the opening post he said that with the CD player he had good bass that was not too punchy.

Something may have been lost in the translation, but by my definition if the bass isn't punchy then it's not good bass.

Also it's like when I had an LP12 into an EAR 834p into a 300b push pull into Linn Isobariks (in an 18' by 24' room).

I wasn't getting realistic bass from that system. What was the cause?

What music did you test your system with? You don't tell us if the music/album contained any/much bass component anyway.

 

[lindsayt]

Expat_mike, I test my systems with whatever I fancy listening to at the at time.

Usually this is something I've heard recently for the first time and enjoyed enough for me to want to play it several times.

When I had that system I was listening to a lot of 1970's to 1980's rock and pop music, with some folk and classical thrown in.

Most of what I listen to features bass guitars and a full drum kit including bass drums. There's a lot of bass content in most of the stuff I listen to.

 

[spiny norman]

I don't play serious bass that often these days.

 

[Cycleman]

i was suprised by the focus and resolution...and i forgot the bass....what's why.

now i am looking for a speaker like this but with 8inch bass at 35hz...any sugestions?!

 

[steve_1979]

now i am looking for a speaker like this but with 8inch bass at 35hz...any sugestions?!

Sell both your amp and speakers and replace them with a pair of Mackie MR8 Mk3 active speakers.

 

[Cycleman]

i was thinking about triangle or monitor audio...

 

[davedotco]

now i am looking for a speaker like this but with 8inch bass at 35hz...any sugestions?!

Sell both your amp and speakers and replace them with a pair of Mackie MR8 Mk3 active speakers.

Or even the budget priced Yamaha HS8 or Adam F7 (£430-450-ish).

Any of these will give the OP the bass punch he is looking for but sadly most hi-fi buyers are frightened of such products.

I do find this odd, so many posters on here wanting to improve the bass power of their systems yet refusing, often point blank, to consider the only really effective option at these very affordable prices.

 

[Cycleman]

the yamaha hs8 is not speakers for hifi....is for studio. They don't have even bass...or colour. Is cold to my ears....

 

[BigH]

the yamaha hs8 is not speakers for hifi....is for studio. They don't have even bass...or colour. Is cold to my ears....

https://www.attackmagazine.com/reviews/the-best/ten-best-nearfield-studio-monitors/5/

 

[Cycleman]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

 

[davedotco]

the yamaha hs8 is not speakers for hifi....is for studio. They don't have even bass...or colour. Is cold to my ears....

For a hi-fi enthusiast that is very rare...*dirol*

They are of course pretty much entry level models for an 8 inch design, and not the most subtle or sophisticated,

However for someone who has a pair of small B&Ws, suggesting that the HS8s have no bass is so bizare that it makes me wonder what you actually heard.

That said, it is quite rare for hi-fi enthusiasts to embrace speakers from the pro world, I guess the powerful, punchy presentation with little of the traditional hi-fi 'bloat' comes as something of a shock.

As always, your money, your choice.

 

[Native_bon]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

 

[davedotco]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

Nothing to do with taste, just a fairly obvious conclusion to draw fron the point that the OP uses a pair of small B&Ws with a bass heavy amplifier with a large amount of bass boost.

If you want more bass, the logical answer is to use speakers that deliver more bass than the ones you already have, which the HS8s most certainly do.

Personally I think the smaller HS7 (or even HS5) is better balance for hi-fi use but then playing r&b/hip-hop with huge amounts of bass boost has little to do with hi-fi.

 

[Native_bon]

the yamaha hs8 is not speakers for hifi....is for studio. They don't have even bass...or colour. Is cold to my ears....

For a hi-fi enthusiast that is very rare...*dirol*

They are of course pretty much entry level models for an 8 inch design, and not the most subtle or sophisticated,

However for someone who has a pair of small B&Ws, suggesting that the HS8s have no bass is so bizare that it makes me wonder what you actually heard.

That said, it is quite rare for hi-fi enthusiasts to embrace speakers from the pro world, I guess the powerful, punchy presentation with little of the traditional hi-fi 'bloat' comes as something of a shock.

As always, your money, your choice.

I have a pair, & to say the HS8s lack bass is really really strange. These speakers are bass power house. I know cause I use them in my music studio.

 

[Native_bon]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

Nothing to do with taste, just a fairly obvious conclusion to draw fron the point that the OP uses a pair of small B&Ws with a bass heavy amplifier with a large amount of bass boost.

If you want more bass, the logical answer is to use speakers that deliver more bass than the ones you already have, which the HS8s most certainly do.

Personally I think the smaller HS7 (or even HS5) is better balance for hi-fi use but then playing r&b/hip-hop with huge amounts of bass boost has little to do with hi-fi.

So you saying real Hifi can not play r&b/hip-hop?

 

[Jota180]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

Nothing to do with taste, just a fairly obvious conclusion to draw fron the point that the OP uses a pair of small B&Ws with a bass heavy amplifier with a large amount of bass boost.

If you want more bass, the logical answer is to use speakers that deliver more bass than the ones you already have, which the HS8s most certainly do.

Personally I think the smaller HS7 (or even HS5) is better balance for hi-fi use but then playing r&b/hip-hop with huge amounts of bass boost has little to do with hi-fi.

So you saying real Hifi can not play r&b/hip-hop?

No. Huge boosts to the bass has nothing to do with hifi. (high fidelity)

 

[lindsayt]

No. Huge boosts to the bass has nothing to do with hifi. (high fidelity)

Unless you're using huge boosts to the bass from amplifier tone controls to somewhat compensate for a huge lack of bass / bass extension from the speakers. In which case that may well be the most high fidelity solution to that type of music with that type of speaker.

Although I think the best solution from a sound quality point of view is to use speakers with the right amount of bass in proportion to the midrange, that's also good quality and with good extension. In that case you can use amplifiers with the tone controls set flat and get enjoyable, fun-filled R&B / hip hop bass.

 

[ID.]

the yamaha hs8 is not speakers for hifi....is for studio. They don't have even bass...or colour. Is cold to my ears....

So what you're saying is that they are high fidelity, but not hi fi? There's a very boring semantic discussion to be had there...

 

[davedotco]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

Nothing to do with taste, just a fairly obvious conclusion to draw fron the point that the OP uses a pair of small B&Ws with a bass heavy amplifier with a large amount of bass boost.

If you want more bass, the logical answer is to use speakers that deliver more bass than the ones you already have, which the HS8s most certainly do.

Personally I think the smaller HS7 (or even HS5) is better balance for hi-fi use but then playing r&b/hip-hop with huge amounts of bass boost has little to do with hi-fi.

So you saying real Hifi can not play r&b/hip-hop?

Sort of.

In general terms this musical style is produced and mastered to sound good when reproduced on bass heavy playback systems, whether it is a club system or a pair of Beats 'phones. Attempting to reproduce this at home is 'hi-fi' in the sense that you might be trying to recreate the 'club' sound (closet approach to the original sound).

Whether a playback system should be tuned (skewed?) towards a certain style of music is a debate that has been going on in hi-fi for as long as I can remember but given the ethos of this forum, this is clearly allowed.

R&B/hip-hop is not, in the main, produced to suit quality wide bandwidth hi-fi, with the exception of some specialised club mixes, it is designed for non-hi-fi systems, portables, bass heavy 'phones, car stereos etc. The bass is manipulated to sound fat and heavy on setups that have no real low bass output which is why using a subwoofer rarely addresses the issues that arise playing such music on a 'proper' hi-fi.

To get this music to sound as it should when played in the home requires massive output in the couple of octaves 50-200hz, hence the suitability of big Yamahas and Mackie speakers. The Mackie HR824 models are the most formidable speakers for this genre of music that I have heard anywhere around their £1200 price level, were I looking for a party system, they would be top of my list with the HS8s as my budget option.

 

[plastic penguin]

When I had amps with tone controls I only ever used them for low level listening. Otherwise they would stay at 2 o'clock or I'd used the 'Direct Bypass' button to skip the bass, treble and balance. It gave the amp a flatter sound across the frequencies.

Exactly like older budget brands used to adopt 'Loudness' buttons or switches. On my Pioneer, if the 'loudness' was switched on once you got above a certain volume level it would automatically cancel.

It is also possible the OP's Nad might be finding the B&Ws difficult to drive.

 

[Native_bon]

i don t understand you my friend. why to shell B&w 685 s2 to go to HS8?!

Because his taste may be different from yours?

Nothing to do with taste, just a fairly obvious conclusion to draw fron the point that the OP uses a pair of small B&Ws with a bass heavy amplifier with a large amount of bass boost.

If you want more bass, the logical answer is to use speakers that deliver more bass than the ones you already have, which the HS8s most certainly do.

Personally I think the smaller HS7 (or even HS5) is better balance for hi-fi use but then playing r&b/hip-hop with huge amounts of bass boost has little to do with hi-fi.

So you saying real Hifi can not play r&b/hip-hop?

Sort of.

In general terms this musical style is produced and mastered to sound good when reproduced on bass heavy playback systems, whether it is a club system or a pair of Beats 'phones. Attempting to reproduce this at home is 'hi-fi' in the sense that you might be trying to recreate the 'club' sound (closet approach to the original sound).

Whether a playback system should be tuned (skewed?) towards a certain style of music is a debate that has been going on in hi-fi for as long as I can remember but given the ethos of this forum, this is clearly allowed.

R&B/hip-hop is not, in the main, produced to suit quality wide bandwidth hi-fi, with the exception of some specialised club mixes, it is designed for non-hi-fi systems, portables, bass heavy 'phones, car stereos etc. The bass is manipulated to sound fat and heavy on setups that have no real low bass output which is why using a subwoofer rarely addresses the issues that arise playing such music on a 'proper' hi-fi.

To get this music to sound as it should when played in the home requires massive output in the couple of octaves 50-200hz, hence the suitability of big Yamahas and Mackie speakers. The Mackie HR824 models are the most formidable speakers for this genre of music that I have heard anywhere around their £1200 price level, were I looking for a party system, they would be top of my list with the HS8s as my budget option.

 

Then no need to reproduce music at home then. So no point of being an audiophile then. What you mentioned could apply to all types of music, it will greatly depend on how it was mastered.

 

[davedotco]

Then no need to reproduce music at home then. So no point of being an audiophile then.

What you are trying to say here?

This is not an audiophile forum, simply because it is an established tenet of this forum that that if a system sounds right to you, then it is right.

Accurate reproduction is not considered important as modern recordings are not 'real', so you can play them back as you see fit.

The OP, and many other posters on here complain about the inability of most budget and mid-fi systems to deliver the bass response that they want, so, from time to time I explain how this performance can be obtained at an affordable cost.

However these solutions do not involve products with the 'correct' branding, or the required 'bling' factor so are dismissed out of hand. Every other avenue is explored to give the required sound except the one that will actually work.

It is a case of a persons preconceptions and expectations being at odds with reality, it is called cognitive dissonance.