A Bright Pair of Watt Puppys

Lee,

I ran out of time yesterday and did not have time to add some additional information that might be of use to you. I had a similar issue with my Wilson Audio Sophia Series II loudspeakers. After 3 weeks or so, I had concerns about how revealing they were. My dealer kept telling me that I needed to get either acoustical treatments or simply (and more economically) to just get "stuff" in my room. He emphasized to get "stuff" rather than acoustical treatments. At the time, all I had in the carpeted room was the audio equipment, a leather listening chair, and ottoman. I finally listened to him and added:

A 7' silk ficus behind each speaker (2)
A 7' ficus (placed in a corner behind seating area, in front of the speakers)
Artwork on the walls
1 Very Large Painting (canvas)
1 Ikea Expedit LP Rack -- 4 cubes X 4 cubes
1 Ikea Expedit LP Rack -- 2 cubes X 4 cubes
1 Ikea Billy bookcase with CD Inserts
3 leather cubed ottomans/footstools
Cubed Magazine Holder (soft material) filled with Audio Mags
--Both LP Racks are filled with LPs
--The CD rack is filled with CDs
--Accessories throughout the room
--6 framed LP Covers
--Books, Pix

The difference was extremely pronounced, in a very positive way. I wish I had listened to my dealer and added these items sooner. The furniture/accessories were strategically placed, and now the room feels so much more like a "retreat" rather than a "room", and sounds phenomenal. I highly encourage you to get "stuff" in your room; try this first before investing in expensive acoustical treatments. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers!

Thanks Mcrheist!

Shopping for stuff! My wife will love hearing this! Might even make her want me to buy more audio?

Naaa...

This makes good sense though. Fill the room up strategically with items that will absorb and scatter sound.

/Lee

You know, it could simply be that you like "too much" bass. I know some people who find my system lacks bass but my frequecy response actually shows I have a little too much.

Then I have visited dealers who have so much bass going on that you can't hear the midrange - but to them, it is perfectly normal and the way it should be.

The point is you spend all this money to be happy so maybe what you need is a sub. You may want to try this route if your speakers placement and resistor attempts still fall short. Afterall, personal taste always plays a role.

Arthur

Have you checked to make sure the Puppy is working?
The speaker cable from Watt to Puppy could have detached.

If the puppy isn't working because a cable came loose (the tail), then the watt wouldn't work. The watt receives its signal from the cross over in the puppy.

I don't know your cables very well, but cable matching is definately more apparent with a highly resolving speaker, like the W/P.

Not being a bass fanatic myself, I find that the bass on my WP (5.1s) is quite good, certainly tight and fast. However, I recently installed a pair of balanced Cardas Golden Cross when I purchased a new CDP and found that I lost some of the speed and impact of my bass with these cables.

My guess is that there could be a couple of things at play; cables, other components (you mentioned with the Hales you also felt the sound was too bright), and a combination of placement and room acoustics.

As for room acoustics, I would buy a couple of panels of the Auralux foam and mount them to a very simple frame to make them more rigid (I just cut strips of thin plywood and glued them to the foam to make them rigid enought to lean against things/walls without sagging too much). With about 4 of these, you can then place them around the room in a temporary fashion, combined with adjusting the speaker placement, tilt, toe-in, etc. . . This is a very low cost approach to help determine what changes in the room will really help. You can buy the Auralux at most Guitar Shops. It may not be the best product (it is pretty good), but this is cheap and can tell you a lot about where you might be having problems in your room.

To me, it sounds like you have a very strong bass null or void in your room and a lot of upper frequency reflections that are creating this bright sound. FWIW, I have found that my W/P are not bright, detailed definately but not bright like I have had with other speakers.