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Listening Fatigue & Speakers in Small Room

The main components of my system are B&W N804s, a MF A300cr power amp (225 wpc), a BAT VK-3i, and a MF Nu Vista CD. All cabling is Cardas Golden Reference. I had this set up in my old, 20x24 condo dining room/living room with no problems. Now, I have a house with a dedicated listening room of approximately 10x10x8, and am experiencing listening fatigue. After a little while, the outside of my ears start to hurt. Recently, I have treated the room with GIK bass traps and spot panels which have made the quality of the sound much, much better, but my ears continue to hurt. I'm thinking that maybe the B&Ws are just too big for the room, and that I may need to go to monitors with a sub. Am I on the right track, or could another component may be the culprit? Thanks for your help.
rlb61

Showing 1 response by tboooe

tboooe's avatar
tboooe
1,009 posts
 
Rlb61, my room is very similar in size to yours except that the wall behind the listening position is only 3" tall. Behind that is my family room and kitchen. I use monitors and will adding a sub soon. I am in the process of treating my room. So far I added Vicoustic absorption panels on the front wall between my speakers. My next move is to add RealTraps Mondo Traps in the corners for bass trapping. My last move will be to add panels on side walls and ceiling to deal with 1st reflection points.

When I had fatigue it was definitely due to reflections. For me toeing in helped to tame the 1st reflections.

As for what monitor you will get a ton of advice. What's your budget and what kind of sound do you like and what kind of music do you listen to?
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