Are Wilson Sophia 2's lean in the midbass?

Shadorne said, "Now imagine the speaker baffle is built flush into the surface of the mirror just like these are flush with the wall Soffit Mount - now you hear only TWO speakers as there is no reflection."

Yes that is true. But you still hear the reflections from all of the other walls, including ceiling and floor. Therefore bass and broadband absobtion is still necessary.

Bob

I've never heard any Wilson speaker sound lean. I'd agree with the room issue crowd. The same room issues may affect different speakers differently, explaining why Wilsons seem "leaner" than others in the same room.

Other speakers may excite the room differently, because they load it differently. IME, you'll usually find significantly elevated reponse in the half octave above 70hz to 100hz (above the 1/4 wave suckout mentioned by Shadorne) in most rooms. The specific frequency combination of suckout and "hump" differs from speaker to speaker (and placement of the speakers) and determines the perceived nature of bass anamolies for that speaker/room combo. That's why the Wilsons may sound "lean" while some other speaker sounds "thick".

If you don't want to soffit mount your speakers, you might want to think about Hemholz resonators (bass busters) and/or room correction/EQ'd subwoofers. Ironically, by absorbing bass (below app 125hz, the real problem area), bass busters can actually cause some speakers to sound a bit "fuller" as the mid to upper bass comes back into balance.

Good Luck,

Marty

Yes that is true. But you still hear the reflections from all of the other walls, including ceiling and floor. Therefore bass and broadband absobtion is still necessary.

Bob

Absolutely! Great point.

However, in the particular example I gave, the "symmetry" is what makes it one of the more severe or dominant reflected effects in most rooms.

Floor reflections were studied years ago and it is one of the reasons that down firing subwoofers are recomended (to try and get rid of that midbass suckout from reflected energy cancelling the primary bass signal). FWIW: if you have a subwoofer then an asymmetrical placement may prove best - it is the symmetry that will give you the sharpest and deepest suckouts...

I thought the Sophia 2 sounded lean when I heard them at the dealers who had them supposadly set up properly.

I also did not like the Watt Puppy 8's for other reasons.

Ironically, by absorbing bass (below app 125hz, the real problem area), bass busters can actually cause some speakers to sound a bit "fuller" as the mid to upper bass comes back into balance.

I quite agree. Let me be clear - Soffit mounting is far from the ONLY solution to the problem - to many people it will seem like using an overly expensive sledgehammer approach. Moving speakers around by small amounts to find a good spot is the most sensible solution becuase it costs nothing!

I found GIK Tri-trap's improved the lower midrange clarity slightly - especially when positioned in the corners of the room behind the listener. It also tightened up the image a little. I expect is helped reduce some of the masking effects from reflectios in the bass.