"The thing I have found, is if the system has good extension into the bass, it can SEEM to be loud, but it is not. A good thumpin' kick has the fundamental at 80 Hz, 2nd harmonic at 160. Bump up the 160 and lo and behold, the kick seems much louder."What Larry says is a revelation to me in terms of our own listening rooms. We often hear about the humps at or near 150 Hz that need bass traps or EQ. And as I recently discovered, the fundamental is way rolled off. As MB says, it's the "thump" we hear and not the fundamental. So I guess that explains why the system I built down 10 dB or more at 40Hz still has strong but boomy bass.
BTW, I went back to sandbox bases for my speakers just tonight. Bigger bases with more sand (50 lbs each) this time and I removed the fancy brass casters. Cleaner, clearer more detail better imaging; the whole 11 yards. If you have a suspended floor you have to try this. Would be interesting to hear the results on a concrete floor, as well.