Comment from "X Factor" Live Transmissions at the Fountain Studios-October 2010-London

[redwards]

Last week a highly respected American record producer is listening to the M40.1 Harbeth speakers in the sound gallery, turns to me and says, "Where's the sub?"

Well done Harbeth, quite simply the best-sounding monitoring speakers I've used in 35 years of broadcast audio.

Robert Edwards
(Sound Director for X Factor program, London)

[Pluto]

a highly respected American record producer is listening to the M40.1 ..."Where's the sub?"

I am not surprised by this. I suspect that the average hi-fi listener expects more really heavy/deep bass than actually exists, hence the large number of typical home installations that sound truly awful with excessive, thumpy & tuneless bass.

Once you get away from modern electronica and obvious stuff like 32' organ stops, there really isn't too much massive bass out there. It seems very easy to get into a mindset where you believe that big bass should be apparent in most music, most of the time and subs are frequently "dialled-in" in support of this mistaken assumption, with dire results.

Good, natural bass as presented by the 40.1 is far more subtle and tuneful, yet very present when the programme material truly demands.