Good Analog EQ

If it's just a temporary solution, then just use the digital room correction. No new interconnects, no new power cords and no new rack space needed. The losses resulting from the added AD-DA conversion could easily be outweighed by the increased resolution across the entire frequency range.

Are you handy at all? With what you describe maybe you could get by with a simple L-pad on the woofers to attenuate the LF until you have a more permanent solution.

Thanks for the responses.

PiedPiper: my speakers are Aerial 9's, my room is 14x25 and soundproofed with ASC wall-damping. This sort of traps bass in to some degree, but the issue is that the Aerials were designed with 'thick bass' in mind; they have 4 7' woofers for low frequencies, 1 6" for midrange. They overload my room. My room is also a home theater so the speakers are on the short wall, about 3' from front and side walls. Seating is at 12' from front wall and I can't change this.

The Aerials have downfiring ports. Instead of using the optional stands (which raise them a few inches, I'm using the stock plastic 1" feet). This seems to congest the bass slightly.

Dan: Your post intrigues me because I keep thinking that if I could could attenuate a choice woofer or two it might help. What is an L-pad? If you wouldn't mind describing what you're thinking of, I'd appreciate it.

I'll check out the leads for Rives and Marchand.

Thanks again,
Ian

Hello,

I have the Aerial model 6 and I hear what your saying about the bass end of the Aerial model 9. The model 6 is a fraction of your Aerial 9's and the bass is just incredible for the size of bass driver. I have had to do some repositioning in a 12 X 15 room just to get them tuned to my liking. The mid/high frequency reproduction on the Aerials is very sweet to my ears but the bass tends to stand out a bit. I did go with the optional stands and it seemed to improve the imaging a bit. Speaker position with the model 6 is tricky and it took time to find the sweet spot.

I put traps in the corners and some acoustic foam but it didn't tame it much. I originally bought a Velodyne DD-10 to go with them and I have never even turned it on. I was looking to upgrade to the 9's but I saw all those woofers and wondered how I would ever get the sound to balance. I am running a single Mac 275 in the winter, a Levinson 23.5 in the summer and I wasn't sure the 9's would be happy with 75 WPC from 6550's.

I wonder if it would help to talk to the guys at Aerial? I hear they are very helpful and ultimately the most knowlegable about the Aerial 9. I'm running purely 2 channel and cant stand the thought of messing with the signal. The fewer things in line from the cartridge to the speaker the better.

I have to tell you that I sat in on a demo of the Model 9 in a room approximately the same size as yours and they were fantastic. It was a completely different set of gear and it took a bit to get them setup. They had the optional stands and the sound was fantastic. I know they model 9's have incredible potential but ultimately wont work in my room. It sounds to me like you have ample space; I believe speaker positioning and the Aerial stands will really help.

Good Luck,

IMHO, the Aeria; 9s were designed for powerful bass, not "thick" bass. As speakers go, they are very flat. Any speaker, especially ones that go as low as the 9s, need to be positioned carefully to avoid the issue your describing.

It is never advisable to position speakers the same distance from both walls as it creates strong standing waves. Moving them out from the back wall and/or closer to the side walls, even a few inches, will help. Moving them out from the back wall will increase your soundstage depth dramatically. The more you do it the better it gets; and it WILL help your bass problem not matter what your Ariels were designed for. One ideal would be 8'4" from the back wall and 2'4" from the side walls. This puts the speakers 1/3 of the way from the back wall and 1/6 of the way from the side walls. This will be a good start at minimizing standing waves. All dimensions calculated from the center of the port, or alternatively, from the voice coil of the woofers, depending on which frequencies are the most problematic.

Your listening position is a few inches from the center of the room, also not good. Again, 8'4" from the rear wall would be one ideal if you followed the above suggestions. If not, you might try moving forward even a few inches. Moving back a few inches will put you right in a hot spot.

If you implemented the above ideals, this would also put you closer to your speakers which would give you a higher ratio of direct to reflected sound, affording you the same volume at the listening position with a lower volume setting on your preamp, which would also help. Towing the speakers in will help with perceived detail.

You could also try plugging the ports with open cell foam, or for more damping, closed cell, but those drivers are not designed for sealed boxes. Mounting the speaker on good brass or steel cones will help as well, and not only the bass. The optional feet you mentioned, of course, would be one option.

These suggestions will be more effective and do less harm, IMHO. If this is not sufficient, Rives specializes in calculating specific recommendations based on your dimensions, etc. Good luck!