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

@curiousjim ...helps to have her out of town on a sea cruise with some of her old girlfriends for a couple of days, but still runs the rise of the "WTF!?" homecoming...*L*

I've had minor success, but one has to pick very carefully.... ;)

@asvjerry @mahgister 

Lord knows I’ve tried,  but when she came home after spending a couple of weeks with her sister and found some Maggie 3.7i’s in the family room, it was all over for me!

@erik_squires 

I’ve two different amps and two different preamps and it stays the same.  And this is the second pair of Reference 5’s (long story ) and the sound is just as sharp in the same areas and volumes. 🙁

@curiousjim So I’m listening to Jazz @ 65-70 dbs and a trumpet pops in @80-85 dbs and it makes my ears hurt.

Are the results the same whether you are streaming from a service/file using the Node or playing a CD? What are you using as connections to the Pontus, USB or SPDIF? Are you using any of the digital features of the Hegel?

 

@curiousjim

I did take a look at the Stereophile measurements for your speakers. While Stereophile does not do compression measurements, they do show a pronounced hump in the presence area. A Schiit Loki may be just the thing for you.

The other thing I note is that off-axis the speakers have a lot more treble energy than mids.  Definitely a speaker worth treating the sides and first reflection points for, as well as moving away from side reflections.