Why Doesn't Radio Give Good Bass?

[JeeTeeEss25Tee]

Ok I'm mainly a radio person but just wonder why can't radio give good bass comparing to cd? I dont have amp or sub coz I'm focusing on mods at the moment.

[krzysiu]

Radio frequencies are transmitted in Left and Right channels only and i doubt the quality of radio waves is 128kb sound...

[dezz]

radio blows it...

[Archie@]

Thank you for yet another informative answer there dezz.

As krzysiu said. FM is generally decent transmition but it's no where near as good as a digital transmition or direct conection. So you will never get as good quality which is unfortunate cause i also enjoy just listening to the radio a fair bit.

[JeeTeeEss25Tee]

Thats what I thought too but I just don't have technical explainations to it haha

[Abo Bob]

FM radio is about 2/3 of the quality of normal cd audio. The first thing you lose is the depth of the bass when you transmit in this manner. Basically the transmission leaves out bits.

All you have to do is increase the bass on your eq or whatever you use for that. Some head units can have different settings for radio and cd.

[RANDY]

I was about to suggest that... all the head units i've come across require you to set the bass/mid/treble for radio and CD independantly.

Funnily enough, i've always found radio to be bassier than CD's!! The new HU in my Skyline is the same... just like my last car. Weird!

[JeeTeeEss25Tee]

I don't get it, what kind of unit would give you seperate settings for bass between radio and cd? Most of units I saw just give you a numbers of equalizer settings (including customized) but they apply to both redio and cd.

[dangerous_daveo]

I think you will find its a bit like mp3, just more so. Mp3 compresses the data you cant hear, or your stereo cant produce. Radio is the same, just they keep going in to what you can here.

Technically mp3 still isnt as good as a cd, but it all comes down to the orginal recording anyway, and how good the system is at reproducing the sound.

[RANDY]

JTS25T: Dunno man... my new Kenwood does it, and my old Kenwood in my Commodore did it. Kinda handy, cause FM radio has always been more bassier to me. (not as bad as AM radio though)

If FM radio is Frequency-Modulated, and high-pitch is in the upper range, and bass is in the lower... maybe the upper is being cut out a bit by the radio stations?

[siddr20]

Also listening to music on air is free, and hence music quailty is also low!! Wont be your typical 128kbs..

Also since the waves travel further, the frequencies may also decrease in quailty.. not 2 sure on that..

[lordsnipe]

something that i remember from uni in regards to wireless transmission.

sound (music) is a whole spectrum of frequencies. bass is the lower range frequencies, treble is high.

Frequency modulation (or AM for that matter) allows transmission of this spectrum of frequencies over a single frequency (ie what you tune your radio to).

However to transmit the whole spectrum requires infinite power (not possible) so a compromise takes place. Hence why FM doesn't sound as good as CD.

[SKY 34]

Oo I like your explanation lordsnipe very.........deep

[predator]

radio is up to 22khz range, whereas CD is 44khz.. which allows much more frequencies to be accurately transmitted in the spectrum. Usually that would mean that its the higher frequencies that you'd lose, so I guess there must be other explanations why you lose bass frequency... probably to do with bass requiring more power to send the lower wavelengths long distances??

Radio plays crap usually repeditive music anyhow

They were talking about digital radio which would improve the quality, but they've been talking about that for 10 years and not much has advanced in that area.

[SKY 34]

your explanation is different from lordsnipe..but sounds deep too...dunno which one is right...hehehhe

[Crimpage]

I think some head units will try to recreate some of the bass lost in radio transmissions, which is why some headunits make the radio bassier than others... My alpine is a lot bassier on the radio than a cd, but so much so that it sounds like crap.

I also know, that all the Brisbane radio stations are shit too... especially the new morning crew on all B105, Triple M and Nova... All of them like to share with you every morning how ignorant they are and how cool it is to be a dumbshit...