Harshness From Accusound Reference 6.6XD

Yuilly

Hi all,

Iv'e had my Accusound's for about 6 months now, and i love them. I pushing them with a Yamaha RX-V430 This only puts out 75w per channel rms, and the speakers are 150 watts rms. From what iv'e just read under powering speakers can cause harshness when you crank them up. I also have a really annoying peak in room response @ 51Hz, it makes it sound really bloaty and horrible. My Room Dimensions are : L=5M W=3.5M H=2.5M. Is it worth getting a new amp? Or do you think its room acoustics? I'm only 13 so i don't have big $'s to spend on equipment.

Thanks, Yuilly

F1nut

Never heard of your speakers, but Yammies are notorious for being bright.

Do your speakers have a metal dome tweeter?

Is your room damped with carpet and curtains or are there a lot of hard surfaces?

Yuilly

The speakers have a soft dome tweeter, yes i have a carpeted floor and dark brown curtains. The walls are plaster so that shouldn't be to much of a problem. What would be an amp you'd recommend getting, that's under $1000?

F1nut

Well, an amp is one thing, an AVR is another. I take it you are listening to 2 channel music and not surround sound, so why are you using an AVR?

Yuilly

I do watch a fair amount of movies to, but mostly music.

F1nut

Ok, does your AVR have pre outs? If so, you can add a power amp, which should improve the sound quality. What country are you living in and what gear is available there?

Yuilly

Nope AVR doesn't have preouts I live in Australia, what kind of gear? :P

F1nut

In that case you're out of luck adding an amp. Probably the best thing to do at this point is find another AVR that has more power, has pre outs and has a warmer sound. Hopefully some of the other guys will chime in with some ideas for you.

BTW, how did you end up here since you don't own any Polk's?

Yuilly

Ok thanks anyway!

Drenis

f1nut wrote: »

btw, how did you end up here since you don't own any polk's?

yuilly wrote: »

ok thanks anyway!

lol!!!!

tonyb

Do you have the whole system, or just the front speakers ? I would move them away from the wall first if they are too close. Next I would ask if you set up the receiver, did any calibration ? Are you using the crossover in the subwoofer or the receiver and what is it set at ? What cables and source are you using ?

Setting up the receiver properly should handle most problems people experience.

HTguru1982

I had the RX-V430. In fact, it was one of my first real receivers back in the day. As good as it was, it was also incredibly bright. Room acoustics play a big part and can be tamed with room treatments. If money is tight, some thick curtains on the wall, a thick rug and the like will help. But your receiver will always be bright and may never give you what you're looking for. Look at used receivers from Denon, Marantz, or Harman Kardon.

Honestly, I would hold onto the receiver for a while and begin your upgrade path with the speakers first. Accusound is a budget brand and they may be good for the money but there are better options out there, for not much more.

Yuilly

I have the whole system, moving them away from the wall helps quite a bit, i have them 200mm away from the wall is what i found best. My amp is kinda old so it doesn't have many calibrations, but i found setting the speaker size to small actually sounded better than set to large. i have the crossover on the sub set to 40Hz (lowest setting) because the crossover isn't that great in the sub but it is a very well matched system. For cables, i'm just using some of the 100ft roll dad had in the shed (not quality at all!) They do have some thick heavy duty cable that they used for there jensens that i could probably get =D

Yuilly

Mmm, i'm really starting to think its my receiver, because my parents have the same receiver and the jensens sound pretty bright to, but they are pretty dull speakers even with a bright amp in my opinion! I have curtains on my windows and carpeted floors, i think ill search around for a nice marantz receiver. I would also like to have a diffusion pad behind my listening position aswell.

tonyb

Check the cables for any discoloration. If they were out in the shed chances are they started to oxidize. If thats the case, toss 'em and get new cables. You can pick some 14 gauge up cheap at Home depot if your on a tight budget. Also, 40 hz on the crossover setting seems pretty low. Try raising it to around 60-70 and see if that helps.

Yuilly

The sub set to 40Hz actually still puts out 50-60 Hz. That would be one complaint about the system, the crossover in the sub doesn't work very well. I will defiantly invest in some new cabling, my cables wire is thin and low quality.