Large speakers plus EQ, what have you done?

@mashif - Thanks for  the follow up.  Just because I focused on large speakers with EQ doesn't mean I wanted to discourage anyone from also using room treatments.

Effectively dampening the mid-treble energy in a room can bring out the bass.

Hi @toddalin - Every passive crossover is an EQ, but that’s really not what I wanted to discuss especially as most hobbyists aren’t going to mod anything about their passive crossovers.

While we can, generally, adjust the speaker to the room to match output with room gain what we can't really do efficiently is deal with narrow room modes.  I mean, it's possible, but then you end up with a very custom speaker that only works in one place with probably a large extra outlay in parts. 

@p59teitel  - Good to hear, sounds as if you had very few room issues to deal with. Lucky you!

@hk_fan - Kind of why I like Roon, which has become my only real music source. It has a very flexible and capable digital EQ section.

Also, it seems, since so many discussions about improving bass usually end up being battle royals about the various ways to apply subwoofers I wanted to see how well users who did not use subwoofers at all do, without having the other, tired arguments about subs.

I wanted to approach the question of getting excellent bass with a fresh approach, making for an interesting thread I hope.

@wyoboy because I’d like to know how well this combination works out in general. This will help all of us learn but also help me understand what methods work for others and not just myself. This helps me make better recommendations.

Like, if it was 90% negative, even if it worked for me, I’d know to avoid suggesting it.

Also, I have an upcoming fully active speaker system I’m building. Knowing any pitfalls from users would be useful even if I think I know what to expect, but if I mention I’m doing that I’d have many people jump in and try to help me design them. I already know the parameters really, so didn’t want to invite that kind of suggestions until after they’re built. At the same time, my major home appliances all reached college age so this project may be later in 2025 than I had hoped for.

Just for the record, flat measurements are only meant for anechoic and quasi anechoic situations. Harman and many others have a lot of writing available on how speakers should perform at the listening location.

Actually flat at your chair sounds horribly bright.

Among others, check the B&K speaker curves or the standard Dirac curves.

Does building a custom room or optimizing the room with treatments count as EQ ing ?

@ronboco

Really not for this discussion. Once we go there the whole thread goes to a general discussion about how to get better bass, which is NOT actually what I want to talk about in this particular thread. I’m asking about this particular approach (2 large speakers + active equalizer) and those with direct experience with it.

Of course, if you tried that and then decided it didn’t work as well as another approach, that’s fine to talk about.

Audiogon is absolutely lousy with discussions that have devolved into general bass improvement threads, that and whether Class D is there yet. I would prefer not to do another one here.

Best,

Erik

I just remembered that Vandersteen had some models with built in bass amp and EQ, those definitely count!