BeatlePaul's Bass to Test Speakers...Steve H??

[BeatleFred]

I just happened to be practicing on my guitar a little bit playing some Beatle- riffs earlier and I recall I had an instructional book/CD on Paul's bass style. (Book is by Wolf Marshall, published by Hal Leonard: www.halleonard.com). (http://www.halleonard.com).) So, I took out the CD and played it on my hi fi system and was interested to hear how the bass notes when played by themselves, can easily cause the speakers to buzz & rattle when you turn the volume up. And my speakers (Infinity Renaissance 90's) are pretty high quality. So, I was just wondering: Is this normal for such a CD to do that to speakers? Perhaps in isolating the bass like this (as opposed to having it blended in with other music as with all other regular music) its not unusual for this happen. The effect of this Cd is like someone actually being in the room with just a bass and I were to mic him directly thru my home speakers- do you know what I mean? So, I'm wondering if I bring this BeatleBass CD to some audio stores out there to play thru their speakers, if it would cause the same buzzing/rattling thing to happen. P.S>- I noticed all the responses to the Abbey Road post- I 'm surprised NO-ONE reponded to my Beatles book post, Go Figure.

[Steve Hoffman]

You better take that CD over to someone else and have them try it. Shouldn't make those noises unless your equipment is faulty. :(

Electric bass is VERY hard to reproduce correctly. Any problems with your system will show up during a loud bass solo....

Heck, a bass guitar can even blow up a regular guitar amp.

[Sckott]

Yep. The drivers in those Infinitys must be very nice, but sometimes you do need a strong amp and drivers that can handle both a bass punch and electric bass strings. Sometimes both at the same time, and that can make girly-men out of some very prestegious speaks.

I finally fixed my KLH 100w sub (caps finally came in - now works like a charm) and it's funny Macca was mentioned; first thing I tried was [on BOTR] "Let Me Roll It" on DTS, Steve's mastering on McCartney "Every Night" and "Ooo You" (both have seperate but complex bass sounds) and it was an improvement.

My Acoustat electrostatics get good wattage, but they don't know how to throw a good punch. What they DO know, is how to place vocals, ride cymbols, alto sax and claronetes like nobody's business, so...

Take "Come Together" from Abbey Road and see if you can feel the kick drum punch along with the bass and snare - all equally strong when you push some volume. They should all stand out seperately, yet at same or similar strengths. The bass has to be obvious and blatent right before each chorus, as the strings get silenced.

Man, maybe that doesn't make sense, but "Come Together" for me is perfect that way, and I can hear a faulty amp or speaker a mile away on that song, because even the tape hiss has its own space in that song, and IT has to sound good.

[ November 10, 2001: Message edited by: Sckott ]

[BeatleFred]

Thanks for the reply, Steve. And nice to hear from you again, Sckott. Perhaps I can make a copy of this instuctional bass CD for you and send it your way- and you can tell me how it sounds on your system when you play it. When playing any other regular Cd's, I have yet to hear my speakers utter any peep of a noise. I wouldnt expect so, as the Infinity Ren 90's (made 1991-1995) sold for well over $3000, thus they arent el-cheapo speakers. (There's a pair of smaller Ren 80's on Ebay now in case you're interested to have a look- Item # 1295378709). (Owner reviews at www.audioreview.com (http://www.audioreview.com) - Click Product Reviews, Main Speakers, I for Infinity, scroll down). I'm w/ you Sckott in that I use Abbey Road as a yardstick for hi fi Beatles sound and bass response. "Come Together" is a good workout for speaker woofers :) The bass on the Ren 90's (10" woofers) is very tight sounding as they should be on high quality speakers. I really enjoy A.R.- sooo many good bass tracks on there- "Sun King", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and from the "Blue" '67-'70 CD- I was listening to Paul's bass acrobatics on George's "Old Brown Shoe"-outstanding! I know when I originally posted this topic, I mentioned the Beatles/Paul bass instuctional CD- but really it couldve been by any group, I'm just curious to know if a Cd that just has bass notes like on an instuctional disc is harder for an audio speaker to reproduce- as its much more direct and upfront sounding. By the way, I have quite a few amps & receivers in my hi fi setup: a new Odyssey Stratos amp w/ vintage Sansui CA-2000 preamp and a bunch of other vintage Sansui & Pioneer models connected thru an Audio Authority switchbox so I can select any receiver/amp to be heard thru the speakers. Oh,and one last thing: there's a nice site for vintage Infinity speakers at www.bobbyshred.com/infinity.html (http://www.bobbyshred.com/infinity.html)