Going Off the Deep End – BASSBOSS Celebrates 25 Years

For 25 years now, BASSBOSS has pushed the boundaries of innovation in sound reinforcement. The company’s lineup includes a wide array of resonant subwoofers built to exacting standards, as well as tops and monitors that effectively (and loudly) provide unmatched sonic clarity. At the NAMM Show this past January, BASSBOSS stunned attendees with their now-iconic “Demolition Experience” demo room and introduced new, long-requested products that expanded their offerings even further.

MMR recently touched base with the king of bass frequencies, BASSBOSS founder and designer David Lee to learn a little bit more about the brand’s history, some significant milestones during the past quarter-century, and how the products continue to connect with ever-increasing numbers of enthusiastic users.

Can you talk about the early days of BASSBOSS? What was the catalyst behind launching the brand?

David Lee: BASSBOSS came about as the result of my dissatisfaction with the capabilities of all subwoofers available at that time. The enjoyment of popular music was transitioning from the exclusive domain of hearing to a combination of hearing and feeling. The legacy manufacturers hadn’t recognized this shift. At that time, experiencing a live performance by an artist was “deeply” disappointing because the bass provided in concerts and at clubs was totally inadequate compared to what could be heard at home and especially in the car systems popular at that time.

Having moved from working in hi-fi, home theater installations and, before that, car audio system installations, I began a business dedicated to nightclub system design and installations with the goal of creating nightclub dance-floor experiences that delivered the fidelity that was familiar from the world of hi-fi with the intensity of high-SPL bass that was available only from competition-grade car subwoofer levels.

Since professional/commercial subwoofers capable of delivering the depth and level required for involving audiences in these new experiences couldn’t be purchased, they had to be made. At first they were made individually as custom projects for specific installations. This provided a lot of opportunities for experiments and developments. Eventually the company became what is now BASSBOSS and began making multiples of the same design, which put it in the category of “manufacturer,” but not nearly in the category of “mass manufacturer.”

Looking back on the brand’s first quarter-century, what product introductions, developments, or partnerships stand out as having been defining events in BASSBOSS’s evolution?

Certainly one of the most important decisions was to not be limited to a single technology. I was in pursuit of transcendent experiences brought about by that interaction of sound waves and emotions that is best known as music. How to do that involved investigating and testing every emerging technology and every practical possibility.

BASSBOSS originally manufactured horn-loaded subwoofers to achieve high output efficiency. Horn-loading was the practical way to achieve the desired LF SPL with the available hardware and power, and within the constraints of the available budgets. The goal was always more and deeper, but the demand for deeper frequencies and more portability led to the conclusion that horn-loaded subwoofers were impractical if those two goals were combined. The development and proliferation of relatively inexpensive, high-powered amplifiers further discounted the need for the efficiency of horn-loading. BASSBOSS began developing and making vented subs, vented-horn combinations and hybrid 6th-order bandpass subs because the goal was to create the ultimate audience experience, not to prove the superiority of any one design or philosophy.

The music and the audiences demanded something that the mainstream manufacturers weren’t delivering: Deep bass. The old horn-loaded subs could do loud but they couldn’t do deep. Nobody could, or nobody would, but I wanted that depth, so that became the overarching goal. Go deep!

Then, after years of selling passive loudspeakers, BASSBOSS systems became self-powered and self-processed in 2009 because there was no way to maintain the desired level of performance, consistency and reliability of the systems without maintaining consistency in the amplification and DSP, with the added bonus of making it easier to get even better results.

In a competitive market segment, what do you think sets BASSBOSS apart from the pack when it comes to Sound Reinforcement, both in terms of product offerings and as a company?

Depth. What does that mean? There’s a lot within the products that benefit the user that the user doesn’t ever have to think about. From the deeply technical aspects of how our designs consider the neurobiology of the audience and how the elements of their perception influence their experience, to the thought that goes into the needs of handling the products in their deployment, to the respect for the customers, their efforts and their needs, every point of contact with BASSBOSS can be found to have had thought and effort put into how people will feel within and after that experience. The ease of use of the systems gives BASSBOSS users the freedom and confidence to do what they do best. We go deep so they can go big!

BASSBOSS marked the company’s 25th anniversary at the 2024 NAMM Show with the brand’s “Demolition Experience.” Can you describe what that demonstration entails?

People remember moments. Anyone who was at one of those Demolition Room Experiences won’t soon forget that experience. They also all understand why we do what we do, how we can support them in what they do, and how much they want to provide those kinds of experiences to their audiences.

Do you have any other events, initiatives, product launches et cetera planned to mark this significant milestone in 2024?

We have a full slate of new designs in development, and are expanding our product offerings extensively.

Are there any recent or upcoming BASSBOSS product introductions that you’d like to draw MMR readers attention to?

We have recently released two new products, the CCM12-MK3 Compact Coaxial Monitor, and the Makara-MK3 Dual 21” Subwoofer, which combines with our Kraken-MK3 Quad 21” Subwoofer to provide even more intense bass output from a very small form factor relative to output.

How would interested MI retailers go about partnering with BASSBOSS?

BASSBOSS is exclusively distributed by American Music & Sound.

Expectations for this market segment in the coming months?

We expect people are going to be ready to party, and we’re here to make that the best party possible!