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.

erik_squires

Most of the points made above are valid.

Check the response at the listening position first. @eric_squires had a good suggestion and the 1/3 test tones also.

I used pink noise because it was easy and encompassed the entire spectrum.  Flat is flat.  unless your measuring instruments roll off or boost frequencies, it is what you are seeing.

If you see any dips (I have a serious dip at 58 hz), or hills, there is your problem.

Is it a particular component in your system?  Speakers, source, pre-amp, amp? or the room?  But, doing this test, at least you can see if there is a problem.

If it shows too much bass because you have three million REL subwoofers, but you like how it sounds, then more power to you.

I want my system and room to give me as close to a flat response as possible.  That is how equipment is typically designed, unless the manufacturer is playing games.  

Flat first, then adjust as you like.

Heck, I've gone to some serious hi end dealers and listened to their top equipment and they were sitting there trying to sell my friends and I on how much bass response the speakers had.  "you can feel it in your chest" they would say.  And I, who played classical violin, sax, etc. would say, you know that is way too much bass.

This is very similar to younger people who are used to MP3 or compressed digital and think this is great.  it is all they ever heard and people told them it was good.  Too much bass is too much bass.  was it really recorded that way?

 

Anyway, just my thoughts.

My stance is different.

 

If you find your system sound bright, then bring up the bass by adding subwoofer or so.

 

After using two 18 inch, 15 inch, 12 inch subwoofers and mid woofers tandem, I found my system sound more balanced.

 

Thomas

Being of advanced experience...   (I'm old OK)  a flat response being produced doesn't mean I'm experiencing a "balanced"  presentation.  Since I'm adjusting my listening experience to what sounds good to me a flat response as a baseline is where I would attempt to start but it's just that a starting point.  My biggest issue is the huge difference in recordings.  It's especially noticeable in the bass as it can go from "yeah that's it" to where did the bass go? to OMG that is way to much bottom end. 

The best I can hope for is most recordings sound pretty good without adjusting anything so a "flat response" is pretty much moot for actual listening.

 

To make a room sound less bright, are diffusers or absorbers, or both, suggested?  Thanks.  

Both. Absorption will reduce the brightness and diffusion will scatter the sound so room resonance frequencies are not emphasized. GIK has some nice slat diffusers in different absorption depths. 4" works well for most rooms. Most of their panels I've seen have both attributes.