Mass loading a room - does it improve bass performance? (1 Viewer)

[Mark ZA]

I have a thought stuck in my head that I read about 6 months ago, about how loading a room with lots of mass can improve bass performance. So I decided to try it with the train crash scene in the Fugitive. It seemed to me that after I had added a few boxes of video tapes here and there, there was more of a rumble in the room(my sofa to be exact).
Could this be right, or is it all in my head?
Cheers,
Mark

 

[Ned]

Could be you're getting more resonance from the newly placed objects. This could give the impression of greater bass output. My SVS still makes the floor quake even when the room is empty.

 

[Mark ZA]

Hmmmm, I cant get the room to shake, but the RS audio meter is off the scale(compared to the other channels). I have an old M&K V75, but that should be enough for a moderate sized room....right?

 

[John Morton]

I can't validate adding "stuff" to a room to add bass, but I can say that I re-aranged my furnature (placing my big couch 3 feet closer to the sub than the smaller sub was). I noticed deeper bass, and a MUCH smoother sound. I thought I might be crazy, so I had a friend listen and then switched them back. He agrees: the overall sound is much better with the new arrangement. Also, I moved my DVD player from the bottom shelf of my TV rack to the top (strictly because the weight of the receiver being on the top shelf was bowing it). You wouldn't believe the difference!!!! A buddy of mine says he isolated his DVD player with a rubber inner-tube and it sounds like he just bought a whole new system.

 

[Saurav]

A buddy of mine says he isolated his DVD player with a rubber inner-tube and it sounds like he just bought a whole new system.

I thought that was a pretty well-known tweak. I have my CD player on an inner tube, and I think it makes a noticable difference.

 

[Craig Ball]

WHAT?

 

[Mark ZA]

Ummm,if you put lots of heavy objects in a room, or generally fill it with more furniture, does the bass response improve?

 

[Mike Kao]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a well known fact that adding mass to an area will undoubtely help the bass response?

 

[Stephen Dodds]

Mass loading basically means loading something down so much it cannot vibrate. It may improve bass response on things like turntables, speakers and other 'mechanical' stuff.
There may even be shaky physics to suggest it helps with amps/CDs etc.
But to mass load a room, you'd have to seal it, and damp it. Unless you live in a box, this will be tough.
Addding stuff to a room may affect treble response, and indeed midrange response.
However, I can't see how adding a pile of stuff anywhere in the room would have any affect at all on a bass wave.
Your room's response is dictated by the dimensions of room in height, width and length and by what your walls are made of.
If you really want to improve your bass, EQ it.
Steve
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