Subwoofers installed on the Oosterdam

I entered the BB King Blues venue on the Oosterdam last week and was startled by the overwhelming boom-boom sound of subwoofer speakers. I can put up with the BB King venue being loud, but now it is intolerable even with earplugs! I discovered that a pair of very powerful subwoofers have been installed in the side panels of the semi-circular seating booths in the back row, one by the left aisle and the other on the right. There is no musical quality with these new speakers at they only amplify the bass drum. Boom boom boom boom......

I spoke with the audio technicians and was told that they subwoofers were installed two months ago, and that they set the volume high so that the musicians can hear the beat. So, speakers located at the back of the lounge are set so that the musicians can hear them above everything else! You might ask why the musicians can't hear the bass drum directly. The answer is that there is now an acoustic shield in front of the drum set.

Furthermore, the audio technicians are located in a protected alcove, so when they set the volume of the music to their liking it makes the overall sound volume much too loud for the more exposed audience. I found the audio technicians to be unprofessional as they would deliberately turn up the volume of the subwoofers far beyond any reasonable level just for their amusement. I felt sorry for those passengers unfortunate enough to have booked cabins below the Queen's Lounge.

Note to Ruth: Sitting by the elevators won't work any more when those subwoofers are blasting.

The real kicker is that there is also a subwoofer installed in the Crow's Nest! Right under the front and center viewing window. Not nearly as loud as the Queen's Lounge, but are now annoying booms among the best viewing seats while the usual cocktail music is played through the ceiling speakers. I have no idea what HAL was thinking on this one. I suppose that they think that the unmusical boom of a subwoofer is hip. I call it childish and most annoying.

igraf

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand it's almost comical, the stark contrast between what I like and how the line seems to want to reinvent itself. On the other hand, a couple of years ago I would have estimated that I'd be on about fifty more Holland America cruises in my lifetime, and now my estimate would be about ten.

So I wonder how HAL can justify setting volumes so excessively high when damage to hearing can start to occur at 80/85 dB ( and is also a function of time).

Yet their staff wear hearing protection (likely required by OSHA or similar) in the dishwasher area, around equipment that is loud, yet not as loud as BBKing.

Sounds like this needs to be conveyed to the Corp Safety officer and VP of customer services. They are most likely aware of this.. Will be in the Oosterdam mid October in charter cruise. Will be interesting to see if been corrected.

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As we walked by the BB King's on several ships, we couldn't even stand their loud music in the hallway.

Wonder if their subwoofers can be heard in the Pinnacle Grill?

Feel sorry for people who have cabins below the Queen's Lounge.

And now subwoofers in the Crow's Nest?

Horrible!!

Maybe the young people will like this. Is this HAL's way of getting rid of their older cruisers?

Ridiculous! If this is a planned transition by HAL to attract a younger demographic then they are going to lose their bread-and-butter older demographic.

Note to Ruth: Sitting by the elevators won't work any more when those subwoofers are blasting.

Thanks for the warning. If I'm heading to the show lounge, then, I will take the aft elevator down to Main Deck, and not the mid-ship.

Until now, it's been the port side cabins that have had to suffer the booming coming down from the Queen's Lounge, as they were the ones under the stage. It sounds that now starboard cabins will be impacted, too. I'll need to keep that in mind when selecting a cabin.

We were on the recently refurbished Westerdam and did not notice the music to be too loud. Not sure if they had the additional woofers installed.

Maybe if enough people complain they will go back to better technology like the Victrola.

Maybe if enough people complain they will go back to better technology like the Victrola.

If you'd like to sound clever you may want to understand the viewpoints you are targeting.

On the recent Rotterdam Voyage of the Vikings the CD told someone complaining about the loudness in the Showroom that he had no influence over the volume. He said the sound technicians are contractors that are part of the show staff and they decide the sound levels. (The Singers and Dancers and their shows are contracted entertainment.) Maybe the BB King productions are autonomous too. If they would tone it down, the singers wouldn't have to be shouting all the time.

The "explanation" that the speakers had to be so loud for the musicians to hear the beat is totally bogus. In fact, sound projection from the speakers for the audience needs to be kept off the stage to prevent squealing feedback. That's why there are separately-amped0 stage monitors pointing at the musicians. The idea that they couldn't hear the drummer is absurd.

Maybe someone could bring along a VU Meter to do some spot checks on sound levels.

I did not notice the subwoofers on the Westerdam a year ago. This is apparently a recent development and may be being phased in on just a few ships.

igraf

We were on the recently refurbished Westerdam and did not notice the music to be too loud. Not sure if they had the additional woofers installed.

This isn't an issue of new tech versus old fashioned tastes. It is about quality musical sound versus unsophisticated sound systems. I laugh when I see the lousy sound systems being sold today comprised of tweeters and a cheap subwoofer in place of dedicated midrange and bass drivers.

Subwoofers are for sound effects. Bass is for music and clear midrange is the most important.

igraf

Maybe if enough people complain they will go back to better technology like the Victrola.

This isn't an issue of new tech versus old fashioned tastes. It is about quality musical sound versus unsophisticated sound systems. I laugh when I see the lousy sound systems being sold today comprised of tweeters and a cheap subwoofer in place of dedicated midrange and bass drivers.

 

Subwoofers are for sound effects. Bass is for music and clear midrange is the most important.

 

igraf

Right on! And as far as the CD saying it was beyond his control, that is utter rubbish. Who does he think is paying these musicians. I think I would have gone to the Captain to complain.

... Is this HAL's way of getting rid of their older cruisers?

This must be a rhetorical question, as I can assure you that HAL has no reason (or intention) to get rid of its older cruisers. It is precisely the "older" HAL cruisers who make (and have made) HAL so successful. HAL may want to attract more "younger" cruisers but IMO is smart enough to do that without alienating its "bread and butter" cruisers. If enough "older" folks express their displeasure over the new sound systems, I feel certain HAL will respond as needed. JMO YMMV

Smooth sailing :ship: :ship: :ship:

I think BayAreaBC was trying to be witty and I did laugh at BayAreaBC’s comment. I trust he didn’t intend to insult anyone.

igraf appears to be very knowledgeable about acoustics and speakers and I 100% agree with igraf.

igraf properly asked the audio technicians about the sound levels and speaker placement. He was given a bogus answer regarding the musician’s ability to hear the beat of the bass drum. Besides igraf’s point of there being an acoustic shield in front of the drum kit, there are other ways of insuring the band hearing the beat. Many times you’ll see speakers on a stage floor designed to be angle up facing the musicians and NOT the audience. This placement is so that they can hear the music. I’ve never noticed a feedback issue with this arrangement. This is one way to solve that ‘beat problem’. Another way would be for the band to practice enough to KNOW the beat.

Low frequency sound (the bass if you will) is omni-directional. This means you can’t really hear where it is coming from. That said, the sub-woofers could be placed anywhere in the room (read: they could place them on either side of the band without a problem). High frequency sound is very directional so that makes speaker placement very important to the listener.

igraf accurately points out that the midrange is the most important one.

He correctly, in my opinion, points out that a subwoofer, meant for really low frequency sound, is for sound effects. Translation: a good speaker should NOT need a sub-woofer to reproduce a base drum. My point is that the sound technician should KNOW this. Instead he sets the acoustics to his personal taste which is to mix the bass way too high to the point of distortion (bass goes thump and NOT boom. He likes boom and not bass.). If you hear boom then the speakers are of a poor quality OR, more likely, the amp is introducing massive distortion because it doesn’t have enough power.

BayAreaBC, you are from a large enough city such that you should be able to find an audio store that sells Magnepan speakers. The speakers themselves are called Magneplanars. Go give them a listen and see what you think.

OH, you know what I’d REALLY like to hear in the BB King Blues club? Blues! I like Motown well enough but a blues club should play…blues.

I’ll get off my speaker box now.

Sorry I was not trying to say anything bad at all..... being a Marine engineer I value my hearing or and totally dislike Hearing the thump thump though out the ship [emoji851]

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Ops see that was directed to BayAreaBC

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Ops see that was directed to BayAreaBC

 

 

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For a moment I said to myself "Huh?"

At my age I say "Huh?" a lot. ;-)