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Qwerty11

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 1, 2010
230
3
I have Mackie 8" reference monitors connected via an Apogee to my Mac. This setup is awesome for studio work, but sometimes, when I am listening to music off the net, I would prefer to hear more bass. I know these monitors are capable of rocking the house, but they just aren't getting enough bass EQd to them when listening to music. Any help?
 
The answer is going to depend on what software you're using. If it's iTunes, I'm pretty sure it has EQ built in.
 
8" is a bit on the small side for deep bass.
If you're cranking it, you'll want a couple 12 inchers in a suitable enclosure.
This not being the 1990's, you may have to settle for a Mackie MR10Smk3 10" "subwoofer".
If there's one thing MP3's did to audio, it was to reduce the availability of large speakers with cabinets capable of handling those 30-40Hz tones.
 
8" is a bit on the small side for deep bass.
If you're cranking it, you'll want a couple 12 inchers in a suitable enclosure.
This not being the 1990's, you may have to settle for a Mackie MR10Smk3 10" "subwoofer".
If there's one thing MP3's did to audio, it was to reduce the availability of large speakers with cabinets capable of handling those 30-40Hz tones.

that's ridiculous. it isn't, as you point out, the 1990's. plenty of great speakers and studio monitors put out amazing bass with 8" woofers... and even the smaller subwoofers (presonus, etc) can well handle the deeper bass.
 
lenty of great speakers and studio monitors put out amazing bass with 8" woofers
Nope, physics hasn't changed since the 60's. Speaker design hasn't changed much either. A smaller but longer throw coil gives you more distortion for the same air displacement as a larger speaker. You want clean base, you need a large diameter speaker.
 
Nope, physics hasn't changed since the 60's. Speaker design hasn't changed much either. A smaller but longer throw coil gives you more distortion for the same air displacement as a larger speaker. You want clean base, you need a large diameter speaker.

of course that's right. but there are plenty of studio monitors with 8" woofers that do amazing bass, and same for subwoofers. really...what's the room? what volume level? or, add a subwoofer to your setup.
 
I have Mackie 8" reference monitors connected via an Apogee to my Mac. This setup is awesome for studio work, but sometimes, when I am listening to music off the net, I would prefer to hear more bass. I know these monitors are capable of rocking the house, but they just aren't getting enough bass EQd to them when listening to music. Any help?
Keep in mind that subwoofer placement and room acoustics are the most important aspect in low frequency response. Is your sub placed for optimum response? If not at least do the 'crawl test' for best placement. Also rooms have natural modes and nulls. If you are setting in a null there will be no way to get proper bass response.

EDIT: I see you don't say you have a sub. This could be the problem since speakers are set up for proper imaging but are not usually placed for optimal bass response.
 
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These monitors reproduce clean bass down to the same frequency as most mid level subs. I can play a nice base guitar line and it will shake the room when I'm in "studio mode," but when I listen to a song with good base in Spotify, it isn't very loud. It's an EQ problem not a speaker problem.
 
Update:

I can easily get the amount of bass I desire through using AirFoil's EQ. A problem with this is the lag with video's audio. Is there not an EQ pref pane or something similar?
 
ckout 'boom' http://www.globaldelight.com/boom/index.php altho confirm that it will work with your audio interface (not sure if it does or not)...

I don't recommend Boom at all, the developer is a dirtbag. I'm a former customer.

It's very expensive for a piece of software that is a one trick pony.

The original version had some nasty bugs that were never fixed, rendering the software unusable. Instead of fixing them the developer changed the name to 'Boom 2' on the app store, added no new features (just a visual redesign) and charged everybody the full price again.

In the UK, Boom would now fall foul of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 but it wasn't in force then.
 
I don't recommend Boom at all, the developer is a dirtbag. I'm a former customer.

It's very expensive for a piece of software that is a one trick pony.

The original version had some nasty bugs that were never fixed, rendering the software unusable. Instead of fixing them the developer changed the name to 'Boom 2' on the app store, added no new features (just a visual redesign) and charged everybody the full price again.

In the UK, Boom would now fall foul of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 but it wasn't in force then.

yikes. my experience is nothing like that. and boom2 worked great on my macbook pro (haven't yet installed it on my new mbp). it's not cheap, but certainly not expensive...and 4.5 stars out of over 650 reviews on the app store (i just looked). i'd say your experience is not typical...
 
yikes. my experience is nothing like that. and boom2 worked great on my macbook pro (haven't yet installed it on my new mbp). it's not cheap, but certainly not expensive...and 4.5 stars out of over 650 reviews on the app store (i just looked). i'd say your experience is not typical...

I would say £15 for a graphic equaliser is expensive. Most of the presets are pointless, which is common to all EQs.

The reviews for the original Boom were poor and deteriorating because of all the bugs. Instead of putting in effort to fix the problems and support their customers in a normal fashion I suspect the developer abandoned the original version to lose the bad reviews. This is pretty low, bordering on kitten murdering territory.

The way I look at it is that once a scumbag, always a scumbag. They have screwed their users over once so they are likely to do it again, wait until they release Boom 3 and abandon the current crop.

I don't mind developers charging for upgrades but they need to meet reasonable criteria. If I'm paying £15 for a very simple app then I expect very good support, Boom failed at this first hurdle. Don't leave your old users with a completely unusable mess. When you charge full price for an upgrade add some new features! Boom 2 added exactly zero new features, the only change was a flat graphical redesign to match Yosemite.
 
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I would say £15 for a graphic equaliser is expensive. Most of the presets are pointless, which is common to all EQs.

The reviews for the original Boom were poor and deteriorating because of all the bugs. Instead of putting in effort to fix the problems and support their customers in a normal fashion I suspect the developer abandoned the original version to lose the bad reviews. This is pretty low, bordering on kitten murdering territory.

The way I look at it is that once a scumbag, always a scumbag. They have screwed their users over once so they are likely to do it again, wait until they release Boom 3 and abandon the current crop.

I don't mind developers charging for upgrades but they need to meet reasonable criteria. If I'm paying £15 for a very simple app then I expect very good support, Boom failed at this first hurdle. Don't leave your old users with a completely unusable mess. When you charge full price for an upgrade add some new features! Boom 2 added exactly zero new features, the only change was a flat graphical redesign to match Yosemite.

not really worth an argument, but remember, your experience reflects...your experience, not everyone's (something people on forums like this forget all the time)...
 
So, what about a way for me to add more bass - outside of using Boom.?
 
Sound flower never really worked smooth from the lion days. Given enough time, sound always starts cutting off until the driver is restarted.

Granted it was running on a 5.1 usb sound card but still...
 
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