Sound quality vs. volume


Looking for a bit of expertise here:

I recently made a few changes to my setup and while overall pleased with the results, I’m on the quest for better.  I’m hoping you all can help me diagnose an issue I’m hearing.

When listening to music at lower volume levels - say less than 1/2 total volume, the clarity, imaging and dynamics come across far more coherent and “in focus”.  To use an often over-coined phrase “It’s like I’m there in the room”.  As I start to push the volume up a bit, closer to live-performance levels, the sound becomes increasingly “mushy”.  I know, a highly technical term, but the best way to describe what I am hearing.  The bottom-end loosens up - getting a bit boomy, the crispness of the mid-range and highs fade and the imaging falls out of focus.  These are all incremental with volume until I get to the point where it’s just unbearable.   

I’m no expert by any means but feel it might be room acoustics.  I already know I have a less than ideal setup with a nearly square room (21x20ft) with 60% of the surface covered with clear birch wood paneling. Some things we can’t change (easily).  I do not have any acoustic treatment, just lots of soft furniture.  What I find interesting is that my old setup (Magnepan 1.6) didn’t suffer to such a degree.  Maybe with the new setup there is more to loose?  A mystery.  

For a bit more context:  
Speakers:  Dynaudio Contour 60
Streamer: SoTM sms-200 Ultra
Amplifier: Peachtree Nova500

Within the 20x21ft. room, my speakers are 4ft. from the wall, I am seated 13ft. from the front wall (a bit back from room center). Speakers are 9ft. apart.

Any thoughts?  


wanderingmoo
These are the times that try audiophiles’ souls. This phenomenon of distortion and congealed sound arising when the volume reaches more than a moderate level is a symptom of something that audiophiles haven’t figured out. It’s not only newbies that experience this. At least judging from the number of rooms filled with Tube Traps, walls covered with SONEX, blankets and carpets on the walls, mattresses on the walls, egg crates on the ceiling, thick curtains covering all the windows. Ten pounds of crystals on the walls. Changing equipment and changing cables incessantly. Getting bigger and bigger amps. Isolating and damping everything. Yet the distortion and congealed sound persists. They even have a name for it. Audio Nervosa. It’s enough to make audiophiles pull their hair out. 😩 As Bob Dylan says at the end of all his songs, good luck to everyone. 
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If you want to listen loud in a smaller room without specific treatments you need to control the bass. I'm quite certain your Dynaudios overload the room at higher levels. And makes a very boring listening. Change speakers or start using DSP like DSpeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 or similar. You will still have a lot of reflections. Also listen to good recordings. Most recordings can't be played really loud because of distortion, overemphasized mids, voices or anything. The latest Steve Miller remastered ultmate hits is a recommendation.

Got the same problem yesterday with a used pair Harbeth P3ESR SE I took delivery of. For desk top use. No loud levels here though. But still very muddy in the bass and no treble at all. After som DSP, Arc 2 in this case, taken down the bass and flatten the freq curve to 4000 Hz, they started to sing rather nice with fine dynamics (crossed att 100 Hz to a couple of JBL 310 subs). 
“It’s what I choose to believe.” - Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, science officer, Prometheus

It didn’t work out too well for her, did it? Mistakes in judgment oft stem from not knowing all of the facts or denial of reality.

”You may think you know what’s going on, Mr. Gittes, but believe me, you don’t.” - Noah Cross to Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) in Chinatown.


Excellent recommendations, thank you!

I’ll start with room treatment.  I figured as much but wanted some validation.  WAF is a very real concern so I will have to see what can be done.  The egg-crate look is definitely in the no-fly zone.   If anyone has recommendations on half-reasonably priced, GOOD looking room acoustics drop a recommendation here.  

I did try every variation of the foam plugs that came with the Contours.  Ended up with the bottom port plugged completely and half of the top port sealed. While I like a good solid low-end, these speakers have a full-fat sound.  What I didn’t expect was the imaging and mid-highs to suffer so much but it might all be in my head :-). 

As for the headroom comment, anything is possible but I experienced this with the Maggies years back.  Too little power so I overcompensated with the Nova500.  While I know I could have gone fancy with Naim or Moon, I figured the Nova would hold me over (and the WAF is just off the charts) with enough power.  If anyone seriously thinks my problem lies in the Nova500 I could grab my friends Diablo 300 and give it a try.  Might do that anyway just for fun :-)

If I can’t get the room to cooperate I’ll try a DSP or other gizmo.  In my limited past experience with digital room correction, the results were somewhat boring - making the music a bit sterile if that makes sense.  I’m sure technology has moved along since then.  

If all else fails, I’ll pull out a good pair of cans and call it a day.  

Thanks again, 
Steve