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Speakers for aging audiophiles - What's with today bass emphasis ?

I'd love to pick your brains on a issue and possibly a suggestion
My system has 2 sources, a Logitech transporter and Thorens 126 MKIII / SME / Supex.  Ampli recently changed to a Musical Fidelity M6si. My listening is 80% streaming and 20% vinyl. It's mostly classic and prog rock but also acoustic jazz and classic chamber music.
I have an issue with my current speakers setup: Dynaudio BM6 passive.
I have been using those for some months now and find that while they are satisfying in terms of scene, detail, resolution they are exceedingly strong in the bass (say 50 to 200 Hz) and not adequately balanced in the middle / treble, say from 1k Hz up. It seems as though the bass player stand in front with a big amplifier and everyone else is back in the stage.
I have changed the amplifier to the Musical Fidelity but while I am happy with that I did not see much change in respect to the issue I am describing.

I relate this issue to 2 causes:

1. Today's recordings emphasizes the bass unrealistically. Let me just give you an example. I recently bought Steve Wilson remix of Marillion "Misplaced Childhood". Great work. The mix is shining but compared to the old vinyl I have got you get this feeling of too much bass. Bass quality is great, well defined, solid, no complain but just too much of a good thing.

2. I am ageing, over 60 now. It is well know that as you age your sensitivity to the high frequencies falls down

Given those factors I'd like to change speakers to get something that:
- Is very open on the highs
- It's very analytical
- Does not over emphasize basses
- Bookshelf
- Ballpark cost 2 - 2.5 K

Can anyone make suggestions ? I was inclined to the Harbeths M30 but read several blogs where they say they do emphasize the bass. Maybe Dynaudio Special or Focus  ? How about Totem Sky ?

I don't mind spending a few more bucks to get what I want / need.

Thanks a lot everyone.

Mark.
marklings

Showing 1 response by desktopguy

desktopguy
398 posts
 
My desktop audio system is located in a bedroom/converted to home office (13 X 13), and by necessity the speakers/monitors are located w/in 10" of the front wall, similar to your situation.

I've tried 3 powered monitors here. The 1st was sealed but tiny and even crossed over the a sub, the mid-bass was suspect due to smallness of "bass" driver. The 2nd and 3rd were ported and bass was overly full in midbass.

I ended up changing the system quite a bit, improving the electronics and transition to the sub. At the same time, I installed a pair of passive ATC SCM12 Pro's (driven by Wyred4Sound ST 500 Class D amp, very fine sound). This is it for me--excellent sound, top to bottom. It turns out that w/close proximity to front wall, a sealed speaker is essential. I just needed a bigger better one than I had before--plus all the tweaks to electronics.

A 2-way can actually be very very good--but it must be a very very good 2-way for this to work. The ATC is one such speaker. If you had the space, the even larger ATC SCM19 is another.
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