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Seek non-ported speakers - $700 to $1500 To stop the port-itis in my room!

I have a smallish room 12x12 that has an unusual ceiling.  I've used several highly regarded speakers in the space and the real ported ones are the biggest problem.  I tried KEF ls50's and wanted to love them but the lower-end was too puffy sounding.  Front ported speakers do have less of a "port-itis" issue.  I found a used pair of polk lsi9's and they sound very good in my room but not great.  I'm looking for ideas for non-ported or ported speakers that are less problematic.  Range $700-$1500.  Thanks for your input audio brothers!  Drumbe the retired drummer.
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yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,661 posts
 
smrex13 +1! 

There is a pair of Spendor SA-1s listed here for $1500. You should make an offer on them!
soix
9,456 posts
 
Big ++1 for @millercarbon and others.  The room is a HUGE problem, especially if your room is not on a basement or concrete slab.  I had a 15x15 room on the second floor, and it was an absolute bass NIGHTMARE!!!  Fortunately it was a temporary residence and I've since moved my system into a dedicated basement.  Complete night and day difference!!!  When I was in that wretched square room, I moved my speakers (medium sized 2-way floorstanders) 6 feet into the room and still couldn't alleviate the dreaded bass hump you're probably experiencing.  If I'm you, I absolutely heed the advice of others and get some bass traps from GIK, or if aesthetics don't allow for this I'd seriously consider getting some bass management from the likes of DSpeaker, etc., or an amp with room correction like a Lyngdorf or maybe the new Elac integrated.  In any event, you have my deepest empathy, and whatever you choose among these options, by all means do SOMETHING other than just changing speakers.  You'll just end up driving yourself nuts and probably waste a lot of $$$.  Best of luck in taming this beast. 
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drumbe OP
7 posts
 
I went to visit GIK Acoustics - their product line can offers many ways to solve room acoustic issues - like rear port-itis!  Thanks for the suggestions lads!
audiokinesis
2,737 posts
 

Drumbe, in my experience "smooth" bass is "fast" bass.  In-room bass peaks actually decay into inaudibility slower than the rest of the bass region, and this sounds "slow" and blurs subsequent bass notes. 

Speaker + room = a "minimum phase" system at low frequencies, which means that the time-domain response and the frequency response tracks one another.  So the good news is:  Fix one and you have fixed the other.

For instance, bass traps reduce the decay times and therefore improve the time domain response, which simultaneously improves the low-end frequency response. 

I have found that asymmetry can also be your friend in the bass region.  If you can position your two speakers such that each is a different distance from all of the walls, that will probably help.

So imagine looking down on your standard triangular setup (speaker-listener-speaker) in your square room, but now rotate that triangle perhaps 30 degrees.  This way your speakers will each be a different distance from each of the walls, and your listening position as well.  The more dissimilar the speakers' bass-region room-interaction peak-and-dip patterns at your listening position, the smoother their sum will be. 

Not saying this is the only thing you should try, but the price is right.

(I make a four-piece subwoofer system and recommend asymmetrical placement, based on the same reasoning.)

Duke

sbuckley's avatar
sbuckley
11 posts
 
Rega RX1 or if you can find it used the RS1 (this is what I own).   Smallish standpoint.  Quick and linear bass, no midbass hump.   Very even response from lows to highs, they just get out the way.  I bought mine used and I’m going to the grave with them.

I also dislike “puffy” bass.  Mates well with a small sealed sub for frequencies below about 65hz.  Works well near wall or in space, I’ve lived with both setups happily.  

Don’t be concerned about the rear port, a near wall placement is within the design envelope as they say.
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