Base or Bass?

[cv_acr]

And to add a new wrinkle to the discussion, the musical term basso (which has been mentioned a couple of times now) is actually pronounced “boss-oh”, as in bosso profundo or deep bass; NOT to be confused with a fish found at the very bottom of the lake.

Why is that a wrinkle? That’s not an English term; it’s Italian.

[CTValleyRR]

I used to be a car audio enthusiast and heard both pronunciations. Earl…

… Then he spent too much time in the car with the volume turned way up, and now he can feel the bass, but not hear it! [:D]

FWIW, I have always pronounced the word for the furniture in a given room, or a group of rooms (suite) as rhyming with “sweet”. Some people, though, notably in central Pennsylvania, pronounce this word like the one for a set of matching clothes (suit, pronounced “soot”). The dictionary recognizes the alternate pronunciation.