Captain America has pissed me off

[MatthewB]

So today I finally get around to watching the Bluray of CA and was pleased to see that the audio is in 7.1 Lossless audio. Then while watching the movie, I'm waiting for scenes with intense bass, only there is none. Even with huge guns and explosions going off, my SVS is hardly making a sound. Granted my other mid bass subs are going off like crazy, but hardly any deep bass. I check over at AVS and sure enough the sound engineers have placed a sub 25Hz filter on and hence why my sub was hardly making a sound. Even my GF noticed when she said, "I thought this movie was gonna set off my asthma, but it was fine." Then after the movie after the credits rolled as with most superhero movies, this one also had a short scene followed by a short preview of "The Avengers" and lo and behold my sub came to life and was filling the room with deep bass. WTF!!! why in all that is Holy do the sound engineers do this. Even Michelle asked why they did this. I said because the majority of American homes are filled with crappy HTIB systems with crappy subs and when movies like this come out, the engineers cater to these morons and don't want to risk destroying their cheap ass subs, while those of us who truly care about sound quality get the shaft and the awesome subs we have paid a fortune for don't get to do jack shit cause some dimwit nimrod sitting in an audio booth thinks that a movie with deep ass bass scenes doesn't need deep bass.

Shit like this pisses me off. I paid good money for this disc and I want the lossless audio that I paid for, only to find that some engineer enacted a subsonic filter because most subs can't handle real low bass. I loved the movie and the PQ but the lack of bass in a movie that was made for bass pisses me off.

 

[-B-]

Perhaps just watching the cinema is in order? So much about the sound etc....if the movie is good, then it's good....same goes for a song.

 

[MatthewB]

I know Bryan but its just unsettling when you see a huge explosion on the screen and you are expecting deep rumbling bass and all you get is bass mostly from the tower speakers crossed at 40hz.

 

[Towen7]

I watched CA last night and did not once think about a lack of bass. Not one time.

 

[Flint]

Matt... your sub is too loud. I've been saying it for years. You've become accustomed to it vibrating and massaging you back after a hard day's work and you expect it even when it may not be called for. With a perfectly balanced system the sub is never noticed, only the content is. Sure, maybe they shouldn't have removed all the bass below 25Hz, but that doesn't mean the movie lacked bass. I didn't notice any lack of bass here.

 

[Towen7]

I don't know what you were expecting but... There were four of us in the room during our viewing of CA last night. The two ladies in the room each commented about feeling their seats rumble during the action scenes. Now, there was less rattling of the cabinets and lights so I'm sure there was less bass energy in the room compared to other bass intensive scenes frOm other movies, but at no point did it detract from the experience of the movie.

 

[TitaniumTroy]

Well thanks for the info. Matt, I was not aware they did that kind of thing. In the words of Bill Clinton "I feel your pain" you big ole BassHead.

 

[Batman]

I don't know what you were expecting but... There were four of us in the room during our viewing of CA last night. The two ladies in the room each commented about feeling their seats rumble during the action scenes. Now, there was less rattling of the cabinets and lights so I'm sure there was less bass energy in the room compared to other bass intensive scenes frOm other movies, but at no point did it detract from the experience of the movie.

Clearly you don't have enough Grandma mopads!!! Er wait a minute, take the current ones out from under the sub and try that....yeah that's it :eusa-whistle:

 

[mzpro5]

I don't know what you were expecting but... There were four of us in the room during our viewing of CA last night. The two ladies in the room each commented about feeling their seats rumble during the action scenes. Now, there was less rattling of the cabinets and lights so I'm sure there was less bass energy in the room compared to other bass intensive scenes frOm other movies, but at no point did it detract from the experience of the movie.

I watched it last night also and thought this is some good seat rumbling bass.

 

[Rope]

Buy two more subwoofers!

Rope

 

[MatthewB]

Guys do me a favor check out some supposed bass heavy scenes from the movie then go directly to the preview of the Avengers at the end of the movie after the credits and then tell me there isn't a difference in bass

Flint I actually have my subs tamed pretty well to a point where you only notice bass when it calls for it. In fact I have to have it this way for the GF's asthma. I just thought compared with other super hero movies this one lacked alot of bass and then read on AVS about the filters

 

[Towen7]

I'm not going through the trouble. I enjoyed the movie tremendously and fretting over 25Hz is more than a little silly... IMHO.

 

[Deleted member 133]

Buy two more subwoofers!

Rope

For once I find myself in total agreement with you.



Matt,

Was not planning on buying this one, but might rent it.

If what you said is true (ie. that the LFE channel has been stripped of those ultra-low frequencies that we've come to expect from this genre, for the reason that you report), and I have no reason to doubt you, then I would be at least a bit peeved as well.

I saw this movie in a good commercial theatre and recall being impressed at that time.

So if the BD release chopped-off what was present in the theatrical release, then I'd be even more peeved.

My closest experience to this has been on a couple of occasions where I've bought "multi-channel" SACDs only to find that they're either 4.0 (no centre) or 5.0. In one case I knew to expect that because they were staying faithful to the original Quad recording, but in others I've seen the sound billed as "remixed, remastered, multi-channel" and could clearly tell that something was lacking.

Just like you experienced with Captain America on BD.

As others reported this might not mean it's lacking in bass. But sometimes you don't notice something's missing, until you do!

Jeff

 

[Deleted member 133]

Matt... your sub is too loud. I've been saying it for years. You've become accustomed to it vibrating and massaging you back after a hard day's work and you expect it even when it may not be called for. With a perfectly balanced system the sub is never noticed, only the content is. Sure, maybe they shouldn't have removed all the bass below 25Hz, but that doesn't mean the movie lacked bass. I didn't notice any lack of bass here.

Off topic but this jogged a memory cell.. I can't speak to "perfectly" but one thing that impressed me about Towen's system was how close to "damn near" it seemed to be. The first thing I heard was the Billy Joel concert and remember wondering where the bass was. But throughout the weekend it became apparent that it wasn't there because it wasn't there. Whether it was other concerts, CDs, or action movies, the bass was always there in the right proportion. And that meant, as Flint says, one could focus on the content, not its delivery!

Jeff

 

[Razz]

Buy two more subwoofers!

Rope

:laughing-rolling:

 

[Botch]

...fretting over 25Hz is more than a little silly... IMHO.

If I'd just spent $1,300 on a hujazz Hsu to get that 25 Hz, I'd be a bit peeved too.

 

[Zing]

...fretting over 25Hz is more than a little silly... IMHO.

If I'd just spent $1,300 on a hujazz Hsu to get that 25 Hz, I'd be a bit peeved too.

Yeah, no kidding!

Frankly, what I find silly, is the dismissing of the content below 25Hz. THAT'S where the fun starts. Every two-bit wanna-be subwoofer in the world can play down to 25Hz. Below that is what separates the men from the boys.

 

[MatthewB]

My point exactly Zing. If I wanted a movie to just do mid bass I could watch a comedy. In fact today I showed the GF "The Blues Brothers" on bluray and no shit there was far more use of my SVS in this musical comedy than on CA and that's my point is why have a big action super hero movie like this and then strip the subsonic bass

 

[DIYer]

my SVS is hardly making a sound.

Buy two more subwoofers!

Forget SVS or two more subs. You need one of these.

 

[MatthewB]

DIYer, LOL I said good bass, not a home made box with a JBL sticker slapped on the front trying to pass itself off as a "real" JBL sub (which are pretty much crap to begin with - trust me my fisrt sub was a JBL) I just don't understand why companies do this and wanna limit ultra low bass. It reminds me when HD-DVD and Bluray first came out and there were companies who were putting in "artificial film grain" to make the picture look more "film like" there was a huge outcry over that. I understand that most movies have bass in the 30-120Hz range, but as Zing pointed out it's the subsonic bass that separates the men from the boys. Then to finally hear the deep bass going off during the "Avengers" trailer and thinking, why the hell would you limit the film soundtrack and then have the film trailer sound awesome. I mean what's the point of limiting the soundtrack at all. To me that's like buying a brand new shiny Ferrari and then finding out it has the engine of a Ford Pinto. What makes this even more unreasonable is that last superhero movie to come out "Thor" had great subsonic bass, in fact I think all the superhero movies didn't use this filter, yet for some reason they did on this one. This is like when "IronMan" came out and it would automatically enact "Night Listening Mode" on certain receivers unless you knew to disable it, then all your movies afterwards if unaware would be stuck in "NLM". Most of the general public doesn't frequent A/V sites and have no idea that their systems have been "compromised" and if they do, have no idea how to correct it.

Sometimes I wish I was blissfully unaware.