Horning Eufrodites - help needed with boomy bass

I have found that putting speakers on a Symposium shelf will reduce the tendency for bass to boom, particularly if the flooring is suspended (not on a solid concrete base) and made of wood. I use Svelte Shelves (the thinnest Symposium platform) which is less than an inch thick. Other platforms are much taller. I would not say that platforms are a "generic" positive, they can make some systems sound too dry if that is already the tendency of the system. In other words, you will have to experiment.

If booming is an issue, energy absorbing shelves or footers like those by Stillpoint (also energy absorbing, and not designed to couple the vibrational energy to the floor) will be of help.

Cones with sharp points are intended to couple the speaker/stand to the floor so that energy is transferred to the floor. If that floor is sitting on something like a concrete foundation, this huge mass will dissipate the energy without that much being re-radiated as sound. If the flooring is wood suspended on floor beams, that might result in the floor itself acting as a kind of sounding board. This could exacerbate a problem with booming. Whether one approach is better or the other (absorption in a compliant pad, or the fooring doing the absorption) is something that has to be tried.

But, before even doing this kind of experiment, you should experiment with room placement. You can sort of do this by random movement, or use a more systematic approach. I sort of like the "Sumiko" approach which emphasizes proper bass balance. You can find directions on the internet. When using this approach it is amazing how a movement as small as one inch will dramatically change bass response.

The next thing I would try are bass traps in the corners of the room. The primary downside to bass traps is that they are often ugly and take up a lot of room. The lower the frequency that needs to be trapped, the bigger the trap that is needed. I use double stacks of 16" ASC tube traps myself and they do work well.

I have not tried equalization in my own system, but, I have heard it effectively used in some systems.

Good luck.

There are various forms of digital or analogue bass equalizers that can greatly reduce bass booming. Since this is a very serious problem for you, this approach should be considered even though it is anathema to a "purist" approach. This is much more of a certain cure than any other cure.

The pair of Eufrodites that I heard sounded terrific--very dynamic and lively, with surprisingly little eviddence of midrange peakiness that I would have expected from the Lowther origins of the midrange driver. Doesn't great sound alone qualify something as audiophile friendly (the high price too adds to the audiophile bona fides)?

I can see how its powerful bass response could be a problem in some rooms, but, that is certainly a speaker system that would be worth the effort to work into any system. To me, most modern speaker systems sound dynamically flat and lifeless and require high volume playback to sound lively. Systems like the Eufrodites are kind of rare (lively without being unnatural in tonal balance) so it would be a sad thing if you have to give it up.

Amuseb, have you looked into room equalizers? If you are reluctant to go the common route of using digital equalization, perhaps you could use something like the Rives equalizer which is analogue and sounds quite nice.