What happened to my bass?


Ok, for those of you willing to read a bit, I have, as usual, something driving me nuts. I'm a speaker builder. Current speakers look like Watt/Puppy, consist of 11 inch Eton, 7 inch Scan Speak, Scan Speak Revelator tweeter. They perform very well and I haven't changed anything about them in 5 years.....but I have changed houses and of course rooms. Prior room was twice the size of the current, rather small, living room. Bass was a tad shy in the prior bigger room which was in a basement with a good amount of exposed insulation and floor joists up above. Current room is plaster covered drywall, bass traps in front room corners. Bass is generally quite a bit better in the smaller room and according to my pipe organ tracks, very low bass is no problem. So, finally, to the point. Yesterday I am listening to Bygone Days (Eileen Ivers violin track) and it dawns on me that that track has sounded different in the past. In fact, on second listen, there are bass notes completely missing that I clearly remember. I assume the memory goes back to the prior bigger, bass-shy room! I just don't get it. My sense is that bass is fuller and more balanced in this room on everything else I have listened to, and then I get to this Ivers track and there are bass notes that actually had some growl to them, completely missing? It's really wierd when you anticipate something in music and it has disappeared. Room null? By the way, it makes no difference where I am in the room. I even stuck my head behind the speakers. Am I the only one whose system drives them nuts from time to time?
240zracer
I posted this on Ethan Winers forum as well. His response: "Yes, it is probably one or more deep nulls". And he also says to measure the room.
Am I the only one whose system drives them nuts from time to time?
04-25-11: 240zracer

Absolutely positively you are not! There are so many variables regarding things like impedance matching, current, voltage, the noise floor, the room etc. It's enough to drive an electronics novice crazy. Wouldn't it be great if you could get great music reproduction from high end gear without all the complexity? Sometimes there seems to be no explanation that makes sense to the average person. Frustrates the hell out of me sometimes. I've almost quit a few times. It would be worth it if I could find an audiophile expert, to come in and analyze all these electronics variables in the setup and advise on what needs to be done to maximize what's here or what needs to be replaced!!! I've spun my wheels for sure.
I hear ya, Foster 9! There have been times that I have looked at something 20 times and saw that it was wrong the 21st time. Crossovers are really bad that way. Brand new cartridges with the stylus mounted way out of whack. Imaging seems to play with my head more than anything else, and really the way some music is mixed it is easy to get frustrated. You have to be very careful selecting music to use as a reference. Luckly I have a couple audiophile friends with younger ears than mine.
during my speaker searching a couple years back I found that I had one song with a male vocal "grunt/growl/whatever" that was interestingly placed in the freq range such that on some speakers (same room and position) it was diminished quite a lot and on a couple speakers it was just plain gone. Messed around and one of the dealers and I experimented and the only thing we could figure was that something in the crossover was affecting that freq range. Turned out that it was the design of that speaker/xover as several examples did it while the model above and below it in the product range reproduced the tones. Long winded way of asking if you are satisfied that your crossover is OK?
I posted this on Ethan Winers forum as well. His response: "Yes, it is probably one or more deep nulls". And he also says to measure the room.

A good track to test in room bass response is Rebecca Pidgeon Spanish Harlem. The bass line should stay nice and even. If some notes jump out and some disappear then you have a problem. (I found this trick from Bob Katz either from his website or his book on Mastering)