by William Bartholomew

Created on: March 11, 2009

Yes, having a lot of bass in a car stereo (or home stereo for that matter) is a good thing. If you would like to enjoy music that incorporates bass then you are missing part of the song if you do not have a lot of bass in your system. There are plenty of people who think that only rap music has bass but when you actually have a system that reproduces the low frequencies properly you will find that it adds a richness to a wide variety of music styles.

Now the question is about whether it is good or bad to have a lot of bass in a car stereo but inevitably people will like to twist the question to suit their own opinion about car stereos being played loud. While I would be happy to discuss that opinion this question does not pertain to volume. First let me be honest and say my car stereo has a whole lot of bass and is very loud. In the warm weather it is perceived to be even louder by the outside world because I own a Jeep and the top and doors are off in the warm season. My system is in a nice newer vehicle that I take good care of and most of the system has been custom built by me.

For me, I enjoy hearing the full spectrum of a song and most of the music I listen to includes a good amount of bass. There are occasions where I will adjust the bass down because a song doesn't sound quite right and then there are also times where I might kick the bass up a bit. I find it pleasing to feel the music as well. A system with a lot of bass will afford you the chance to feel the music or in the case of my home stereo (I have a 15" Cerwin Vega powered subwoofer), watching Lord of the Rings becomes much more engrossing with the bass turned up a bit. So, if you don't want to miss out on the lower portion of the audio spectrum then I feel you can't go wrong by adding a lot off bass to explore that range of low frequency.

Now if you want to show off a bit then my guess is you don't need to read this debate to begin with. A lot of bass is a no-brainer when it comes to showing off a stereo system. As for those who have their peace disturbed, there is a time and a place for everything and sometimes people don't know when to turn their systems down then yet sometimes people don't know when to ignore the 5 seconds of thumping as a car rides by. Regardless off which side of that issue you fall on I would bet that most of those who answer "no" to this issue are biased against loud stereos and not really being fair to the actual question. Also, I would further suggest that most on the "no" side have not taken a few minutes to listen to a song they really like on a properly balanced system.

So if you are not sure which side of this issue you are on I submit to you that having the option to turn the bass up or down is much more pleasing then the sound of a song that is supposed to have more bass but comes up short because your system is not sufficient to reproduce everything a song may have to offer. If you really love your music then invest in a good stereo system, it doesn't have to cost more than your car even if your car is a bit run down.

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