Q: I'm trying to compare your products with other manufacturers and am having trouble figuring out real performance from all the different specs, SPL, wattage, etc. Would you explain how you derive your specs and how the differ from other manufacturer's? I've seen elsewhere on the site that you think specs can be misleading.
BASSBOSS products should be compared in-person where you can hear, feel and understand the difference. If you compare based on the published specifications alone, you're not going to realize the significant differences that result from the BASSBOSS method of specifying compared to others'.
BASSBOSS: What we tell you:
Minimum sustained performance.
What we don't tell you:
A bunch or irrelevant, hyperbolic nonsense intended to appeal to people who talk a lot more than they know.
Meaningless acronyms intended to make plain physics sound like something we invented.
What does that mean to you?
BASSBOSS products will deliver their specified performance for the length of your gig and every gig.
BASSBOSS products will deliver their specified output throughout their specified frequency range.
Others: (Typical mass-market products.)
What they tell you:
Absolute best case scenario performance.
What they don't tell you:
The specified output performance can only be achieved for a fraction of a second and if you try to achieve the specified peak output for any longer than a fraction of a second the result would be rapid failure or massive distortion followed by failure.
The specified peak output SPL is achieved over a narrow frequency band that may or may not be within the operating frequency of the associated loudspeaker.
The specified output SPL very likely cannot be achieved throughout the specified operational frequency range.
What does that mean to you?
Buying products based only on their published specifications is kinda like proposing marriage based on an online dating profile. You might not get exactly what you were promised. :~)
Breakdown:
Don't believe the common audio-industry practice of cherry-picking the highest possible numbers at unusable frequencies and levels that can only be achieved for a few milliseconds. We quote our specs by what can be achieved for extended periods of time and over a wide range of conditions, unlike specs by many manufacturers. Outrageous claims abound in the speaker industry. In the blizzard of hyperbole it is difficult to know what to believe. Many of the speakers on the market are "paper tigers", with performance numbers that can be achieved for mere milliseconds, if at all. This is at its worst with subwoofers.
Sensitivity and peak output numbers are quoted at frequencies well outside the operational band anyone would or should use a subwoofer. Frequency response is quoted for speakers with bass-boosted EQ. Sometimes you can find the truth in the fine print, but OFTEN not.
Claiming a peak output of 137dB looks great on paper but at what frequency can the quoted speaker do 137 dB, and for how long? Can the speaker also do 137 dB at any other frequency, let alone the frequency claimed to be the low frequency corner? Technically a loudspeaker that claims to have a peak output of 137dB and a frequency response of 30-100Hz should be able to do a minimum of 131dB at 30Hz. The fact is that most would not because they are built to achieve that high peak number, not solid, deep bass, so they won't get close to reaching peak performance at their low frequency corner.
Assuming the 137 dB was scored at a peak and the box is +-3 dB. If the box in question achieved the flat response to 30Hz through an EQ boost of 3 dB then it will only reach 127dB at 30Hz. This is a 10dB difference between the claimed output and what you get at the low end of the spectrum. That's not just misleading, it's downright fake.
BASSBOSS subwoofers are designed to deliver peak performance where you want peak performance of a subwoofer to be: in the low end! A BASSBOSS subwoofer that is specified to be -3dB at 30 Hz will deliver peak output at 35Hz, not at 135Hz where others seem to be at their best. Our numbers don't look nearly as big on paper as they sound in the real world because real numbers translate to real performance. We could publish amazing, cherry-picked and misleading numbers like the other guys but instead we choose to publish conservative, representative and realistic numbers. Try measuring other manufacturers' products against their specs and you'll be disappointed. Measure ours and they will often be conservative.
You need to be able to achieve the specifications of a product - at the same time, indefinitely, and over years, for them to mean anything at all. Don't believe the hype.