2 Channel system sounds weak and lackluster


Hi

For starters let me go into my system. I have a 13x11x8 dedicated room (no room treatment at the moment and vinyl floor). Speakers are Focal Aria 936 driven by an Audio Research DSi200. Vinyl is Rega P6 with Exact through Whest TWO.2 phono and CD is PSAudio Perfectwave Transport and DAC. Each component is powered by and interconnected with Audioquest cables.

 

I have moved the speakers in many different positions and found close to the wall gives them the best sound, but no matter what I do they sound lifeless and have no real impact to the sound. Cranking the volume up helps to some degree but there isn't any intensity to the sound and just leaves me frustrated and wanting more.  The speakers are positioned on the 11' wall, though I haven't moved them to the 13' to see if the different angle changes much.

I also changed out the speakers last night with my Wharfedale Denton speakers and they were even more dull and lifeless.

End game for the room is to tear it down to the studs, sound deaden the walls and put carpet in, but other projects are more pressing at the moment. For now I just want to be able to listen to and enjoy my music.

 

Thanks all

boxboy83

Ok so update, I swapped out the amp for the one I used with the Wharfedales at my last apartment. It sounded pretty much the same for both speakers. I repositioned my listening room along the long wall and it made a drastic difference, even threw some blankets on the floor to see if that helped at all and it seemed to make a notable improvement. As much as I would love to buy a new amp, finances are pretty tight right now so I can only do so much.

My plan for the moment is go to Costco and buy the small sound deadening panels they had because its cheap and gives me a chance to see how it helps and then get an area rug and throw that down. Thanks to everyone for their advice and input, once I try a few things in the following week I’ll report back. Hopefully it truly is just poor room treatment because that’s a lot easier to get spouse approval for vs new equipment 

@oldaudiophile 

 

You are correct about the front ports and bottom port, positioned right they are incredibly capable speakers especially for their price point (or the pre-covid discount that I got mine at).

The room is rectangular but with a bump in the wall for a closet (previous owners used it as a bedroom and I will be making it a rectangular room when I can get around to renovating). One window (covered with a blanket currrently) on one long wall, the other long wall is where the door to the room is. The window was to my left when listening on the short wall, behind the speakers when on the long wall. Flooring is vinyl pressed wood planks over top of a concrete foundation (basement room). Drywall ceiling and walls, unsure of quantity or quality of insulation (I would assume a fair amount because Alaska). Inside the room is my small leather loveseat and two 8 cube record shelves, one laying down and one upright, behind the couch and beside the couch.

I’ll give it a go with room treatment as you suggested, from what I can tell already it seems to be the right direction

@mswale I went over all of the connections, double and triple checked that they're all going to the correct terminal. Even swapping out to the other amp gave the same results, the only notable change was moving around in the room. I have the option on the Audio Research amp to change the phase and on the DAC I'm using, but no tweaking provided the full change I want until moving the rig around.

@gano I genuinely can't tell if you're trolling or if you're electing to not read the part where I said the sound improved after small adjustments or that the entire system sounded great in the last apartment I lived in 6 months ago. Headphones, earbuds, even my truck, all sound great which is why I specified that it was the 2 channel system that needed assistance. I'm 30 and recently had an audio screening for work, ears are working just fine