Speakers & the room

Funny you should ask!

I use Verity Parsifal Encores (among others) and the sound in my current room (similar to yours) is nowhere near what it was in my previous listening rooms. The P/Es employ monitors jumpered to woofer cabinets like your EOS.

I looked into TacT/Lyngdorg/DEQX but they're mostly direct sales so it's harder than usual to get a handle on this rather expensive fix.

Instead, I inserted a $600 Velodyne SMS-1 and and a second amp between the woofer modules and the monitor modules of the Verity P/Es - no more "jumper madness" - for equalized bi-amping. The SMS is a room analyzer (20 - 200hz), 6 band parametric e.q. (20hz-120hz) and active crossover (very flexible low pass, 80hz @6db/octave fixed high pass). Bottom line: problem solved.

Caveats:

The included high pass is kinda bare bones. Verity crosses the woofers and monitors symmetrically @ 150hz 12db/octave. I'm crossing an octave lower, asymmetrically. The sound in this room is vastly improved, but a bit different than I recall out of the P/Es in past rooms. Still, the sound is not only improved, but very satisfying period.

If I want to really do it right, I'll add an appropriate high pass (e.g. Marchand) and match the factory's passive x-over. This will add another $800ish to the price tag, bringing the total to $1400 plus additional bass amps (I had appropriate ampliication on hand already) - hardly cheap.

Finally, tweaking response via the PEQ is a time consuming trial and error process. You see a "bump" and position the band below it, reduce level, broaden and narrow the "Q" and nothing happens! So you start screwing around in nearby bands and, eventually, you get improvements. I managed to take a broad 12 db (relative to 80db) bump, and a couple of narrow 7 to 8 db swales and equalize to +/- 3.5 db from app 38hz to 200hz.

Not only is the bass response vastly better, but the mid-band sounds much better. The trade is the sharp roll off at app 38hz. I can get more extended response, but it will come at the cost of relocating one band of eq to the lowest bass and screwing up the nice, smooth performance I have now.

Generally, I don't like to modify the intended installation of a great product like the P/E, but - in this circumstance - this approach worked for me in a situation similar to yours and you may want to investigate further.

Good Luck

Marty

It looks like a great setup but there are a few things you might consider before going to a subwoofer. It seems to me that both imaging setup and bass setup is critical:

1. Repositioning the speakers. They look too close to the side walls and aimed straight ahead. Consider moving them and toeing them in to cross in front of the listening position. This way you will be as much off-axis as now but soundstaging should be equally good but positioning less critical.

2. Consider other/different room treatments. The effects you are experiencing may be due to an excess of mid- to- high frequency absorption but little effect on the residual room modes. All that relatively thin foam, even the stuff in the corners, will have much, much less effect on the bass than high density fiberglass bass traps. You can do this best with decent bass traps (RealTraps, GIK, etc.) but another option is the Rives PARC which will do this electronically.

My room sucks also, but it's sucking a lot less since I've been working on room treatments. I would also suggest the GIK corner traps and panels in place of your foam treatments. You need to be willing to experiment with placement of the different panels. Acoustical Solutions has some real nice looking diffusion panels that don't look like ugly like most diffusors. They look like a normal absorptive panel.

Do you have a radio shack meter and either a Rives test disc (best) or Stereophile test cd? If not, purchase them a make the measurements while seated in your chair. Post the frequency numbers where you have the greatest deviations from flat. This would help identify what areas need what.

From your photos, I would say none of the treatments address bass issues and it looks overdamped which would dry up the mids and highs.

I think the foam is the main problem. It simply won't do anything to fix the lower frequencies and it will kill the upper frequencies. Look into some real bass traps and diffusion. Use a minimal amount of foam if you must. If you put enough bass traps in that room you'll be much happier. Good luck.

Spaz: You have no right to complain with a killer room and rig like that! It looks amazing to me, there must be a solution. My guess is hire an acoustician or get many many audiophile friends to come and give their suggestions.

Seriously, a room like that is to die for.