In-Room responce measurement with Legacy Focus SE speakers

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.   

Can you list his system components?   An expensive yet excellent solution is the Legacy Wavelet II with room correction. Or possible a few acoustic panels on the side wall for early reflections at least? 

It nearly sounds like (to me) that the two 12" woofers aren’t even running.

yeah, that’s a tell-tale sign. What’s happening is you have very long decay times in the mid-treble range due to the size of the room and highly reflective surfaces. As a result your speakers sound unbalanced tonally, plus the distortion-like effects. You can no longer hear details.

It is kind of like watching a movie with the audio out of sync with the video but here the delayed sound is now incoherent with the direct sound, and the more you turn up the volume the more of that delayed sound you’ll hear, especially in the midrange (Fletcher-Munsen curve).

With enough absorbers the details will emerge but so will the bass. That is, you’ll tonally change it so it’s less bright, more bass. Like taking all the veggies out of a stew, all you’ll be left with is the meat.

Alternatively, move the speakers and listening location as far from reflective surfaces as possible. Don’t forget the ceiling and floor as well for absorbers.

Morning @fthompson251 I sure can.  Integrated amp: Rega Ellicit Mk4.  CD Player & DAC: Rega Saturn.  Streamer: iFi Zen Stream.  Speaker wire: Deulund (12').  Turn table: Rega Planar 3. 

I am wondering about room correction software/hardware as well, and I know that Wavelet would be perfect especially for his over all system and room.  He does have some yellow insulation panels that I'll be testing out this weekend.  I was just hoping to get some baseline measurements and comparisons to baseline "what the Focus SE outputs WITHOUT room interaction, first.