In-Room responce measurement with Legacy Focus SE speakers


Evening all,

Odd request or question for folks with Legacy Focus SE speakers.  I am doing some VERY casual speaker tests and room response measurements of dads big system.  I have Legacy's smaller Studio HD bookshelf speakers, and have a VERY small space and I think they are incredible.  In hearing my dad's much larger room/speakers/system (his listening room is literally the size of my tiny home!) with his larger Legacy Focus SE speakers.....I am honestly a bit underwhelmed, especially considering I have the 1/8th size Studios, and in my room/system they sound incredible.

In my home, the Studio bookshelf speakers  sound 'mostly' full, warm, very taunt and articulate, and there is the right match of the tone of most all instruments and it's "weight".  Like the pluck or strum of a guitar that is percussive, actually has a bit of an impact on your body.  However, my dads system lacks this 'impact' or body and weight.  Listening at 70-75decibell level is actually grating and feels like your head is being a bit compressed, but it doesn't "sound loud".  My dad mentioned he usually doesn't play anywhere above 60ish decibels because of this issue. 

Attached (I hope) is a screen shot of REW in room measurement of my system with the Studio HD bookshelf speakers for reference to what I am hearing.  In my fathers system, there is a pronounced 100-130hz peak/hump and things sort of trail off rapidly in BOTH higher and lower frequencies.  I'm trying to get a similar measurement to illustrate, but thought I would try to get some thoughts first. 

Thanks for time!!

 

128x128amtprod

@erik_squires great insights again.  I was just doing reading up on the specific frequencies and energy/directionality.  I have been diving into that AM Acoustics web site as well, which has been PERFECT for this exact exercise: everything I am even roughly measuring and hearing, it is show as well.  It mathematically predicts the RT60 in sync to what I measured, and it is also telling me the exact same higher energy frequencies with specific notes to test. 

Here is a photo of the empty room: no diffusion.  I'll post the full semi-arc at the speakers and it's corresponding measurements to show the difference (now that I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with posting images!!!!)
Of note but not obvious is the 18"x18" boxed beam overhead, just "in front" of the seating position.

I think the beam will be more or less OK. It’s too close to your head to reflect directly, but the ceiling above your head is ripe for treatment.

One radical listening approach is to toe the speakers in so they cross in front of your head. This minimizes the reflection against the side walls. They also seem to be too far out into the room to reinforce the bass well though, so, with an eye on the AM room simulator, consider pushing them backwards when you have that back wall treated.

Honestly though I'd move the speakers AND the couch forward as well.

@erik_squires Agree on all points.  I'll send you a message on a couple details, and a sketch of the room and dimensions, so you specifically have a better idea. 

 

Here is the room "treated" sort of over the top with utilizing what we have on hand, and making the largest change to hear/measure what is improved/worsened.  From the RT60 measurements, you can see that we dramatically reduced the echo/ringing from over 700ms to just around 500ms, which some state is around average/acceptable in most contexts. 

Also attaching measurement sheet to show where things are placement and distance wise. 

 

 

I have both of the mentioned speakers.  Legacy Focus SEs in my main listening area and the Studio HDs in my PC setup.  Studio HDs are very fine speakers, indeed.  But nowhere near what you should be hearing from the Focus SEs.  I've been fortunate to live in my home for nearly 22 years.  And I've been into audio and HT long before that.  When I first moved in, I had Legacy Classic speakers.  They sounded fantastic and 'hit' or slammed really hard.  Then I moved up to Focus (originals).  The bass all but left even though I went from (4)10" bass drivers to (6)12" bass drivers.  So I went to work on sound panels and a few bass traps.  Tons of experimentation on speaker positioning as well... I'm talking countless hours of moving (even by mere fractions of an inch), listening for a few days and then moving again.  It took a lot of time and effort between placing panels in the right places and speaker positioning.  But once I upgraded to the new Focus SEs, all I needed to do was find the sweet spot of positioning.  If I put on something like the Beastie Boys, I get a very nice, full body massage.  You should be getting gobs of deep bass from these things.