In-Room responce measurement with Legacy Focus SE speakers

https://www.flickr.com/photos/amtproductions/53619694364/in/dateposted-public/Thanks for the ideas @carlsbad2 That is a great idea, but unfortunately I am visiting the folks on the other side of the country from where I live, so no go on narrowing the scientific method testing with the exact same gear (smart idea though).

I would imagine room dimensions and pressurization is a huge component as well, is that right, more in regard to the "feel" of notes/frequency reproduction? I honestly thought the woofers in his towers weren’t working from the way things sounded, and felt.

I need to read how to properly link or input images: I am massively screwing that up. Flickr apparently is a no-go?

My system:
Legacy Studio HD, Adcom 555 modified, Bel Canto DAC 2.8, Pioneer PD-65 CD player modified
Room 12x17x9, speakers along long wall, couch against back wall.

The room is often the cause of such issues.  It can be the speakers, of course, but very often having a very reflective room causes it to sound distorting at higher volumes.  The reflections seem to overpower the direct signal.  Good way to test is to compare the listening experience at the normal location and listen also very close to the speakers.

What @erik_squires said. Room reflections are distortion. 

There are a host of reasons this sort of thing can occur and it usually is a combination of factors including, bad speaker design, defective driver, bad amp/speaker match and room acoustics. 

A peak at 100-130 Hz is going to make a system with what I call wet bass. I like my bass dry and always put a 2 dB notch there. What you describe is usually too much energy in the 2 kHz to 4 kHz region which makes a system difficult to listen to at volume and very sibilant. This is a very common room problem. 

Listening to a multidriver system near field is a very bad idea as you start to hear the individual drivers. If you want to get an idea what the speaker sounds like in an anechoic environment take it outside and place the speaker on a 5 foot ladder on soft ground. What a PITA that is. 

DEQX solves the problem by taking a very near field measurement of each driver at 6 inches then measurements from the listening position. From these measurements it can extrapolate what is due to the room and correct for just that and not the sound of the speaker which you do with EQ to taste. This is what your father's system needs, a DEQX Pre 8. Then he can make it sound however he likes. 

@erik_squires  and @mashif  thanks for the input on reflections.  I was wondering a little about that as well, but I discounted it because of the size of the room (to me) is huge vs the speakers in them.  You're right, if I stand near-inbetween the speakers I get a better full range of tones. The speakers are several feet away from boundaries and each other.  However, there really is very very little in 'furnishings; his listening room is a huge finished basement.  It doesn't 'echo' per-se, but it's not like a living room with lots to break up sound. 

Maybe the fatigue aggravation at mid to higher volume (65-70db) is the reflection distortion, and the complete lack of weight and bass is lack of room pressurization?  It nearly sounds like (to me) that the two 12" woofers aren't even running.  I've walked around the space and I can't find any stronger or weaker bass nodes, even along the walls (bare).  When I've done very crude measuring, there is an easy 20db difference from 80-110hz (full range sweep) with 100-120hz being a very prominent mountain peak.