If you want to try something cheap and this would be really only and indication of what the problem is and after you try this then you need to go looking for the best thing afterwards. Sit in you listening chair. Have another person run a mirror on the walls a small mirror like a makeup mirror. Put a small mark on the wall where you can see the tweeter in the center of the mirror continue along the side wall until you can see the tweeter of the opposite side speaker mark the wall there as well. On the wall behind the speakers set something on top of the speaker that is in line with the tweeter so you can also mark the wall behind the speakers in line with where the speaker would be. Now that you have the marks raid your towel cupboard and put a bath towel centered on those marks perhaps tape or pin them on the wall. Then take a listen and see what you think.
Moved from medium attic like room to larger room, everything is too bright
Hi guys, I moved my set up from a bonus room over the garage with slanted walls to our converted media room - which is the old garage. The room is about 450 ft.² with 10.5 feet ceilings. And four large windows. The good news is that I was persuaded to use cryogenically treated Romex directly from the electrical cabinet to the stereo. Which is great… Except I think the size of the room is making music seem brighter and more echoey.
I have a Hegel H390 streaming from a lumen T2. The speakers are KLH model 5 with 2 REL T/7x subs. Played a lot with speaker and sub placement but I think the problem is the volume of the room.
The room is double walled with amazing insulation plus ceiling insulation so that is not the problem. Plus we have area rugs over the hardwood.
I realize that my weakest element in the system is the speakers. So the question is should I save to replace the KLH speakers? And what speakers would work?
Thanks so much, Nadine
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I also have an echo issue. The cheap and easy way to really tell is how easy it is to understand other people talking in that room, especially multiple people at a time, or the hand clap as suggested above. It can also be measured with microphones and software; the easiest is via ’reverberation time’ or ’decay’. Couches and padded chairs do work for that. I would also recommend thick felt rug pads to extend the frequency range the rugs absorb. The thicker the absorbing material is, the more bandwidth it will absorb. I find blankets useless because they will not absorb midrange well. They may work as a proof of concept, though. Echo is not limited to high frequencies. Some speakers are more directional than others, such as Sanders electrostatics, that may work better. I do not have personal experience in treating rooms for that speaker, though. |
To everyone who wrote to me about this issue. HUGE thanks. Very grateful and plan to implement many of the (most doable) changes including rug pads and more art. Special thanks to @bobpyle who introduced the psychological element. Funny because by the time I had written the post and listened for a couple more hours, I was already appreciating new frequencies that had been missing in my old set up. Also thanks to @gdnrbob who confirmed what I know: the speakers could be upgraded. If any of you know of speakers that are not over about $600USD ($9000 CDN) that work well in a large room, let me know. Thanks again, Nadine |
I don't know why you are thanking me. If you are looking to replace your loudspeakers already, you clearly don't understand, nor wish to embrace what I was advising you to do. Seems like you're on the road to potentially trashing up to U$6k. Sorry, I could not help you, but good luck. Seems like you're going to need it. Best, BP |
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