Where's my bass, Oh there it is...

FastGame

I'm having a real problem with room acoustics and hopefully someone can help.

If I sit for normal listening (sofa, chair) my bass is weak to almost gone, floor level bass is totally gone even with sub woofer. Sitting position my ears are 43" from the floor, my speakers (borrowed set till my new one's come in) are 38" floor standing towers. If I stand up my ears are 67" from the floor and then the bass is nice and full...all one could ask for. I've tried 3 different set of speakers and still the same. Moving speakers closer or further from wall doesn't help much, further from wall is worst.

Any ideas on how to fix this acoustic problem ? I'm going to have around $ 10,000 in this system when I'm done and my wife (older irritated hen) is really on my A$$ about this, this is also wearing on my mind so I can't really blame the poor girl...

Thanks in advance.

seabeerob213

have you done the sub crawl?

FastGame

seabeerob213 wrote: »

have you done the sub crawl?

No, wasn't planing on using sub but if that's the only way to fix this then I'm making a big ($$$$) mistake on high end floor standers If I need to raise the floor or lower the ceiling 20" it would be a lot cheaper to get stand mounted monitors and sub.

I just bought this house and didn't test stereo before purchase....looked like a normal room in a normal home to me, guess I was wrong.

Thanks

Toolfan66

What are you buying?

2 channel, or HT?

Room treatments?

recoveryone

could use more info on the room:

Size
Flooring
Windows/or open spaces (hallways/opening to other rooms)

FastGame

Toolfan66 wrote: »

What are you buying?

2 channel, or HT?

Room treatments?

From this thread http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?156894-Best-2.0-2.1-system-for-6-000

FastGame wrote: »

Update: I'm done.

I didn't win the bid on the LEVINSON amp

I bought a new Parasound Halo A23 http://www.parasound.com/halo/a23.php

Parasound 2100 preamp http://www.parasound.com/nc/2100.php

Parasound Zdac http://www.parasound.com/ParasoundZ/zdac.php

Salk speakers http://www.salksound.com/songtower%20supercharged%20pricing.htm .

Is this the best for the money ???...hmmm I don't know, so many dam choices...I know I could have done better going the used route but at my age I played it safe with new equipment.

It's going to take 6 to 8 weeks to get the speakers built buy Salk, in the mean time my buddy is in Florida for the winter and he let me use his new Monitor Audio silver 8 speakers. My system sounds real sweet with them, I hope the Salks kick it up a notch...

I don't know if I made a mistake on the DAC, it sounds fine, but maybe I should spent extra and got the Oppo 105 instead....hmmm so many choices.

Thanks to all.

Already have everything except the speakers plus I added the Oppo 105.

I don't know anything about room treatments or where to start.

recoveryone wrote: »

could use more info on the room:

Size
Flooring
Windows/or open spaces (hallways/opening to other rooms)

1 long wall is picture window heavily draped, other long wall is half plaster and stone fire place. I will post pictures of the room later when I get home.

ViperZ

You seriously need room treatments - absorber panels, bass traps, etc. Go to one of the manufacturer's website (GIK, ATS acoustics, Auralex, etc.) - they all provide a basic room analysis to tell you what kind of materials you need and where to place them. At least it will be a start.

mhardy6647

Face

Change your speaker placement drastically(use a different wall) or add multiple subs. Bass traps are inefficient and you would need many to fix your issue.

You could buy all the best gear and speakers in the world and they wouldn't fix your bass issue.

http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Documents/White%20Papers/AES_Preprint_8748_color_plots.zip

CoolJazz

Anytime somebody complains of very sharp peaks and valleys (all but gone thing) then my first instinct is to check the easy and free. Just make sure you're not wired out of phase.

May not at all be it, but that's the basic first step before all the fine analysis and expense of what's where in the room and how many hard surfaces and what treatments etc.

So just do the quick check as to the plus on the amp going to the plus on the speaker and the same on the other channel. Just to make sure this isn't that easy.....


CJ

tonyb

If you have the speakers in front of a heavily draped wall of windows, it will suck out your lower bass. The Songtowers are good speakers on their own, but they are not capable of going down to those lower bass notes like a sub can. You may have to add a subwoofer if your into bass heavy music or intend on using these for HT too. I think they are rated to go down to 35 hz, but that's in a perfect chamber, your own in room response will vary and most likely be in the 45 hz area.

Also, could be you don't have the system calibrated ? Have you tinkered with the settings ? What cables are you using ?

FastGame

ViperZ wrote: »

You seriously need room treatments - absorber panels, bass traps, etc. Go to one of the manufacturer's website (GIK, ATS acoustics, Auralex, etc.) - they all provide a basic room analysis to tell you what kind of materials you need and where to place them. At least it will be a start.

I did as you suggested and found the solution. I got in the crawl space and insulated my floor with mineral wool and the bass is now the same sitting as it is standing...:) Next I will insulate the interior wall dividing the dining room from the living room, hopefully that will also help. I went to the Auralex site and studied how they built studio's, I don't have the money for that but I could try and get my wall's & floor done with the basic idea. http://www.acoustics101.com/common/figure3_1a.jpg

Thanks to all for suggestions, I tried them all except the blender idea.....haha

ViperZ

Glad it helped. You can build your own panels for fraction of the cost of professional panels. All you need is OFI 48 insulation material. Owens Corning 703 is the most popular brand name for OFI 48. Home-built panel usually costs about $50 compared to $200-300 professional one. All depends on your skill level on how well you will build the frame

treitz3

Have you tried raising the height of the speakers you are currently utilizing? Try [temporarily] grabbing a cinder block, bricks or even thick books to raise the height. Then sit down to listen. Any change in bass frequencies? Try to make for this experiment the tweeter height the same as your ears height at the sit down listening position. If the speakers are used, you may want to double check that the driver polarity hasn't been internally swapped.

Tom