@audio2design you’re 100% correct. The right speaker doesn’t have a boundary wall next to it, there’s a counter and a kitchen and a hallway going to our office / entryway.
Incredibly impressive deduction.
Incredibly impressive deduction.
Help me tame my out of control bass
Hey all,
Hoping to get some advice on how to tame what appear to be some pretty bad room modes. See my system here:
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8800
I’m in a bit of a pickle for a few reasons. First, my NY apartment is on the small side and requires me to set up on the long wall with the listening position against the opposite wall. On top of that I upgraded to my dream speakers, Egglestonworks Kivas. They sound amazing but they’re big and have a lot of low end reach. The combination of these two factors leads to the waterfall you see in my system - a pretty massive bump in low end, particularly at 40-44hz and from 60-70hz.
There’s also a huge bump at 120hz, but I don’t understand how that one is possible. I think that might be a measurement or microphone error - I don’t hear that at all and it doesn’t go away even when I EQ 120hz out completely, but maybe it’s a resonance?
Things I’ve tried so far, each with modest success:
- Plugging the ports gave me about a -5db reduction in the trouble spots (all measurements are with the port blocked)
- I don’t have a ton of placement flexibility but moving them back from their original position gained me about a -3dB reduction in bass
- I added a pair of 5.5” thick GIK bass traps, but they didn’t do much that I’m seeing in the measurements. Maybe a -1-2dB reduction, tops. They honestly helped more with the mids and highs.
- Convolution curve in Roon - this works the best, but doesn’t solve the problem for home theater or vinyl
I’m pretty stumped as to what else I can do. I think that the amount of bass traps needed to fix this is more than my marriage can withstand. I’m considering the PSI AVAA active bass traps, but only if I can do a home trial of them first to see if they’ll actually help - I worry this 8-10dB bump I’m seeing will be too much for even a pair of those. I could get a DIRAC processor from miniDSP and that would at least then work for all digital sources. Vinyl is mostly not a problem since this is so low and most of my vinyl is rock and jazz.
Any other ideas? Rolling tubes that have less bass? Are there any less expensive EQs with digital in and out that I could use as an alternative to the DIRAC for home theater only?
Hoping to get some advice on how to tame what appear to be some pretty bad room modes. See my system here:
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8800
I’m in a bit of a pickle for a few reasons. First, my NY apartment is on the small side and requires me to set up on the long wall with the listening position against the opposite wall. On top of that I upgraded to my dream speakers, Egglestonworks Kivas. They sound amazing but they’re big and have a lot of low end reach. The combination of these two factors leads to the waterfall you see in my system - a pretty massive bump in low end, particularly at 40-44hz and from 60-70hz.
There’s also a huge bump at 120hz, but I don’t understand how that one is possible. I think that might be a measurement or microphone error - I don’t hear that at all and it doesn’t go away even when I EQ 120hz out completely, but maybe it’s a resonance?
Things I’ve tried so far, each with modest success:
- Plugging the ports gave me about a -5db reduction in the trouble spots (all measurements are with the port blocked)
- I don’t have a ton of placement flexibility but moving them back from their original position gained me about a -3dB reduction in bass
- I added a pair of 5.5” thick GIK bass traps, but they didn’t do much that I’m seeing in the measurements. Maybe a -1-2dB reduction, tops. They honestly helped more with the mids and highs.
- Convolution curve in Roon - this works the best, but doesn’t solve the problem for home theater or vinyl
I’m pretty stumped as to what else I can do. I think that the amount of bass traps needed to fix this is more than my marriage can withstand. I’m considering the PSI AVAA active bass traps, but only if I can do a home trial of them first to see if they’ll actually help - I worry this 8-10dB bump I’m seeing will be too much for even a pair of those. I could get a DIRAC processor from miniDSP and that would at least then work for all digital sources. Vinyl is mostly not a problem since this is so low and most of my vinyl is rock and jazz.
Any other ideas? Rolling tubes that have less bass? Are there any less expensive EQs with digital in and out that I could use as an alternative to the DIRAC for home theater only?
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- 59 posts total
mic at chin level approximate ear ht. sorry for the loss of your cat. good on ya for posting the waterfall, this puts you many wandering light years ahead of the resident agon egotist. Since you have already got panels and are not a flat earther only analog zealot, go the DSP route, just be aware with your ears that close to the mode aka the wall, results might not change that much....borrow one if possible... |
also, you might download the excellent and free Vandertones test and music files. the test tones are based on typical room modes....which are not always octave based ( duh, but a brilliant observation and more importantly implementation...like those are Vandersteens EQ centers )...and they include an excellent scaling acoustic bass solo that sails right thru and past 120 hz.... So like the legendary Max Townsend said: “ listen and measure “.... |
@tomeh45 there’s no manual for the Kivas, but I did talk to Jim at Egglestonworks and he not only had some tips for me, he was kind enough to cut some port plugs for me for the slot loaded bass port. For the transmission line ports, they’re pretty heavily diffused internally so they aren’t super loud, but just to reduce interactions further I have the GIK bass traps hung behind them so they are absorbing anything from them. Audio2design pretty much nailed the layout, but here’s the floorplan in case you’re curious about the exact dimensions. Ceilings are 8 foot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nu53jkfvabh6bs9/Photo%20Feb%2022%2C%2011%2028%2019%20PM.jpg?dl=0 |
- 59 posts total