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speakers or room???

I have a nagging problem with a frequency spike in the midrange that I especially notice in acoustic piano (jazz and classical) and sometimes vocals. I have heard this in different speakers including SF Venere 1.5, Dynaudio Emit 20, Martin Logan motion 15, Zu Dirty weekend, and various other 2-way designs. I have not had this problem with Polk Lsi m703 3-ways, and some 2-way DIY towers that I built a few years back. Back in the day when I was still using an MXR graphic eq, I would roll off  the 250 - 500-1000Hz sliders 3-6-3 db for a more balanced sound. I stopped using it because it introduced it's own coloration to the sound.

My listening room is a small family room adjoining the kitchen for a fairly open space about 15 X 30 with a cathedral ceiling in the family room portion. The flooring is oak hardwood with 8 throw rugs in various places. I would describe it as being fairly lively, although the kitchen island, cathedral ceiling and a fireplace create some asymmetrical surfaces.

So me thinks it could be:

a. speakers, especially 2-way
b. the room, too lively, not well treated
c. my hearing going wonky at age 67
d. all of the above

Any and all thoughts, experiences would be most welcome.

Current system:
Hegel H80 or Primaluna Prologue depending on the mood
Tannoy XT8 speakers


dtapo
erik_squires
16,017 posts
 
Always treat the room.  GIK Acoustics
audition__audio
1,441 posts
 
Actually OC fiberglass isnt very effective when compared with an engineered cotton or wool material designed for this purpose. I bought some cotton material from a company called Soundproof Cow which I think is very good. If you want to go cheap then the OC is fine but it doesnt absorb a very wide band of frequencies.
mike_in_nc
1,139 posts
 
The Tannoys look like lovely speakers, and published measurements don’t show a peak there. But the two octave around 500 Hz are an area sensitive to speaker positioning, especially with ported speakers. So my suggestion is, try moving the speakers away from the wall a little and also moving your listening position. You might be able to fix this that way.

As far as room treatment, that’s something I often recommend, but these frequencies are low enough so that a thin panel or rug isn’t going to do anything to help. I would use panels 6" thick or something like tube traps. Still, I’d experiment with positioning first. You might not need room treatment for this particular issue.

Finally, I have not used one, but many users swear by the Schiit Loki, saying it's a useful and transparent EQ for very little money. One of its bands is centered at 400 Hz, which might be just the ticket if you can't solve the issue with repositioning the speakers.

4425
861 posts
 
dtapo... don’t want to ruin your day but at 63 i’ve just realized that my hearing has changed. in the last few months all of my mid fi gear and car systems now have their treble controls at max boost. never needed that before. max treble boost was way too bright maybe as little as a year ago. ain’t happy about it. fwiw
jabar102
26 posts
 
I have the XT8 speakers as well, also fed by some Primaluna gear. I listen to a lot of jazz piano (as I type this actually) and have not had any issues with any midrange spike. I actually used a mic and REW software to do some room measurements and did not see any spike there. So I’m also guessing the room might be in question here. 
Your source might be able to help with EQ. I use Audirvana (on a Mac feeding my DAC) which allows to use some EQ plugins that I set to compensate for the REW measurements. It probably won’t do as well as some of the recommended room treatments, but it’s an easy test to see if you can “adjust” it out. 
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