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You don't lack bass, you have too much treble

One of the biggest surprises in audio and acoustics is how damping a room with treatments makes small speakers sound so much bigger.  Yes, you get a broader, deeper soundstage but you also seem to get a lot more bass, more power, more extension!!

What's going on? 

What happened is your room was too bright.  The overall balance was too heavy on the mid and treble so as a result your systems balance was off.

For this reason I often suggest before A'goners start chasing bigger and bigger speakers, that  they think about the room first, add damping and diffusion and then go back to thinking about the bass.

Not saying you don't need a bigger speaker, but that some rooms may never have a big enough speaker in them due to the natural reflective properties.

erik_squires

Showing 4 responses by mashif

mashif
106 posts
 

Good room acoustics is more important than equipment. Without controlling frequency response and reverb time, it sounds like the room, not your gear. The proper balance of absorption and diffusion is critical to hearing what's coming out of your speakers. 

@koestner 

Pink Noise has the same energy level at all frequencies. No roll off. That's what makes it useful. 

mashif
106 posts
 

Flat frequency response is indeed what you want for accurate reproduction. Music has a natural high end roll off, but if your speakers don't reproduce the entire spectrum, you will have an artificial rolloff. 

mashif
106 posts
 

Both. Absorption will reduce the brightness and diffusion will scatter the sound so room resonance frequencies are not emphasized. GIK has some nice slat diffusers in different absorption depths. 4" works well for most rooms. Most of their panels I've seen have both attributes. 

mashif
106 posts
 

@curiousjim 

I also have a sensitivity around those frequencies where trumpets, sax, and certain guitar notes sound annoyingly loud. Less toe in did make a big difference as does room treatment. That frequency is typically around 2-3k and unfortunately some speakers have a peak there. Some room measurements could help you find if that's the case. 

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