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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
erik_squires OP
16,237 posts
 

Treating a room makes speakers sound smaller not bigger.

Not if you do it right, no. 

 

Subwoofers can make a system sound bigger [...]

Yes, they can.

The point I was trying to make is that what we hear is relative, and the overall balance matters.  Yes, a subwoofer increases bass.  Reducing mid-treble reflections in a room has similar effects as adding more bass, with the added bonus of often improving imaging and reducing listener fatigue. 

aball
2,018 posts
 

Dead rooms are boring.  Subwoofers are essential.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,184 posts
 

As usual many half truth by our friend:

Treating a room makes speakers sound smaller not bigger.

This is completely false except for those who had no idea what they acoustically do ...Room acoustics by the way is not only the use of passive materials on a few panels.  More active devices can be used as resonators;  and yes even materials treatment and especially active treatment with among others devices as Helmholtz resonators can make the acoustic recorded translation of any album bigger and more holographic in your room new fine tuned acoustic space ...

Subwoofers can make a system sound bigger [...]

The op is right here then mijostyn too ... 😊

I am a fanatic when it comes to measuring systems

Go only measuring gear with your other gear/tools  and room  ad infinitum till perfection ...😁 For us any measures set must be coupled to hearing/brain  experiment biological controls too ,  save inner ears measures and HTRF  tracking measures  the most important one anyway with the room geometry and size and acoustic content  ...

skyscraper
831 posts
 

Interesting thread.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,816 posts
 

@erik_squires 

So I’m listening to Jazz @ 65-70 dbs and a trumpet pops in @80-85 dbs and it makes my ears hurt. The same can be said for Saxophone, electric guitars and some female singers.  I currently have 6 absorption panels and furniture and CD racks for dispersion. Carpeted floor and a lot of soft things in my room.

I have tried 2 preamps(both tube hybrid), two sets of mono blocks (both sets are tube hybrid) and a Hegel H390 (that is on the warmer side) and I’m still getting that sharpness above @80dbs. My streamer is still the modded BS Node N130, going to the Denifrips Pontus ll and the speakers are still the KEF Reference 5’s.

Any thoughts?

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