You don't lack bass, you have too much treble
One of the biggest surprises in audio and acoustics is how damping a room with treatments makes small speakers sound so much bigger. Yes, you get a broader, deeper soundstage but you also seem to get a lot more bass, more power, more extension!!
What's going on?
What happened is your room was too bright. The overall balance was too heavy on the mid and treble so as a result your systems balance was off.
For this reason I often suggest before A'goners start chasing bigger and bigger speakers, that they think about the room first, add damping and diffusion and then go back to thinking about the bass.
Not saying you don't need a bigger speaker, but that some rooms may never have a big enough speaker in them due to the natural reflective properties.
+1 good post. I have worked through a very complicated relationship with treble for nearly fifty years. While I knew the old adage of be careful when choosing speakers, too bright can sound like good detail. But struggled with it anyway. Definitely it is easy to have a too bright room overwhelm the balance. Lots of speakers and components are also designed to be very detailed and start with too much energy in the high end compounding the problem. |
One big problem is that many don't measure their system's response using pink noise and an inexpensive analyzer system like audiotools (free by the way) from their listening position. Using a test CD like Stereophile's you can play back pink noise and look at your system's response. The room has a major effect also. If the response isn't flat from 20 hz to 20 khz, it will show the dips and hills. You want to at least start with a completely flat response at all frequencies from 20 hz to 20 khz. many manufactures try to fool listeners by either boosting bass response or lowering mid range response to give the illusion of great bass response. I know many advocate subwoofers to be installed. However, in my opinion, if your system (speakers included) actually give you a flat bass response with the other frequencies, then your system does not really need subwoofers and is doing its job. That's not to say it won't benefit from subwoofers or equalizers. This is where room treatment comes in first, then equalizers (there are some really good ones out there), to either boost or cut certain frequencies. Try it Get a test CD with pink noise, and use the Audiotools app. There are others also. But free is free. See from your listening position what the response actually is. You might be surprised. Too much bass? Too little? etc. enjoy
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@minorl I encourage you to step up your game a little. Gated and blended responses are far better than pink noise, which you get with Room EQ Wizard and a calibrated microphone or OmniMic. You'll get a far better idea of what you are hearing that way. |
