System too bassy - Primaluna & Usher

Samhar:

I'm guessing this is what you were referring to from the review you posted:

"I mostly listened to the Be-718s in my smaller (9' by 15' by 7.5'), acoustically treated listening room, but I did set them up as well in my larger (13' by 25' by 9') main room...They locked in with the smaller room amazingly well, not only "disappearing," ...

...20" from the front wall and 19" from the sidewalls. That left about 4.5' between the speakers and put them 9' from my listening position."

This kind of positioning is just not going to happen for me. Unless I put them against my window which is just not an option for us. It has to fit our life, not be our life. With that in mind, I'm open to other suggestions.

Mapman:

Hahaha...you guys just don't quit. I don't want to move the speakers because I like the way it looks. I love hi-fi but it's not my life, I still want it to look like a home. When I have a dedicated room I can do that.

Deetothevee, I hate to say this, but considering the fact that you cannot change speaker placement, I think your ability to significantly alter the excessive and, I assume loose, bass will defy significant alteration just by changing 'stuff'.

You might pick up an SPL meter and a test disc w/ 1/3d octave test tones and measure your set up to verify/locate the area of boost and the extent of the boost you are trying to cure. Do not overlook my comments about the listening position - you can also reduce the bass some by putting your chair in a null in the bass frequencies.

There are two other possible solutions. 1) Use of a sub placed away from the wall/corner, and a cross over so you can roll off the bass (excess) from your main speakers. I don't know enough about a sub's implementation with your integrated though - it might not be possible for you.

2) If you are using one source for most all of your listening you might put a 1/3d octave equalizer between your source and integrated and reduce the bass hump there.

FWIW, if you are going to consider using acoustic products to reduce bass be sure to identify where the excessive bass frequencies are. Medium to low bass frequencies are difficult, if possible, to control in a small room (if at all) in a home, especially when it is a 'shared' room.

Changing wires is for fine tuning adequate systems but not for making major alterations in frequency aberrations due to room dimensions (your is one of those as well) and speaker/listening positions.

It is possible that if you can accept listening at low levels that the excessive bass may not appear so excessive. At low levels the apparent bass response of many systems in many rooms falls off appreciably (that is why pre-amps used to have tone controls, to boost the bass).

I hope you can find a solution, but it won't be easy and will require a compromise. Good luck.

Thanks Newbee.

I just brought out my speakers about 6 inches and toed them in heavy, and yes, it did help a lot with the bass. It actually doesn't look so bad. Let's see what she thinks. But wow, if the only thing I get out of this is to hear what it should sound like, it will help me moving forward.

I could get used to how this looks :) We'll see what she thinks.

Thanks for posting the pics !!!!! That is a challenging position/room that room acoustics treatments are worth trying. Try wire first and hear what happens !!!