Damping boomy bass

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Apart from boomy base,how else can one recognize if room accoustic treatment is needed?

Ideally by measuring your room with an analzing thingy:

http://www.advancedacoustics-uk.com/Cinema-And-Listening-Room-Acoustics/Room-Analysis

Every room needs accoustic treatment, ones more than others!

I'm waithing for new stands, as i don't like mines, Atacama 7 DUO, i've order the Nexus 6 to my Rega dealer in grey, they'll be sitting in marble slabs.

And after that i'll ask my Rega dealer an estimate for some room treatment!

That will be my next UPGRADE !!! :bounce:

 

[GSB]

That analyzer thingy looks good,but the pro bit(and price)kinda' puts me off.

Will keep an eye out for something second hand tho...and geared toward the more intelectualy(?) challanged :roll:

 

[MakkaPakka]

There is no need to spend that much. Room EQ Wizard is available free. All you need is that and a mic hooked up to your PC (a cheap SPL is just fine as long as it has an output on it - mine was under £14). REW will play a range of frequencies then the mic/SPL will record how loud each frequency was and how long it took to dissipate. Obviously the ideal is that all the frequencies are within a few db of eachother and dissipate fast rather than bounce around the room arriving at your ears at different times muddying the sound. You're unlikely to achieve this without any room treatment unless you're building from scratch and can pick the dimensions and shape.

With that data you get graphs which show how your room sounds and you keep experimenting and re-testing. Far more reliable than your ears and you can see every change that moving your speakers or listening position makes. The cost of this is a few hours of your time reading up on it and a fraction of the cost of some fancy cable.

On the original point, foam will do next to nothing for bass. It will just absorb some of the higher frequencies so you could end up with the bass seeming louder and even more boomier. If you look at proper bass traps they are 10cm+ depth.

I knew my room was too echo-y so I decided to splash out on some GIK bass traps to see what difference it made (had tried some absorbing panels before which had helped a bit). Although it wasn't the intended position, I tried them behind my speakers. It was like VHS to Blu Ray - unbelievable difference. No 'audiophile' BS about it - I have actual data to prove it. The traps aren't an eyesore either - they're a nice off white colour and barely noticeable when put behind speakers.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

+1 as my experience in sig

 

[CnoEvil]

There is no need to spend that much. Room EQ Wizard is available free. All you need is that and a mic hooked up to your PC (a cheap SPL is just fine as long as it has an output on it - mine was under £14). REW will play a range of frequencies then the mic/SPL will record how loud each frequency was and how long it took to dissipate. Obviously the ideal is that all the frequencies are within a few db of eachother and dissipate fast rather than bounce around the room arriving at your ears at different times muddying the sound. You're unlikely to achieve this without any room treatment unless you're building from scratch and can pick the dimensions and shape.

With that data you get graphs which show how your room sounds and you keep experimenting and re-testing. Far more reliable than your ears and you can see every change that moving your speakers or listening position makes. The cost of this is a few hours of your time reading up on it and a fraction of the cost of some fancy cable.

On the original point, foam will do next to nothing for bass. It will just absorb some of the higher frequencies so you could end up with the bass seeming louder and even more boomier. If you look at proper bass traps they are 10cm+ depth.

I knew my room was too echo-y so I decided to splash out on some GIK bass traps to see what difference it made (had tried some absorbing panels before which had helped a bit). Although it wasn't the intended position, I tried them behind my speakers. It was like VHS to Blu Ray - unbelievable difference. No 'audiophile' BS about it - I have actual data to prove it. The traps aren't an eyesore either - they're a nice off white colour and barely noticeable when put behind speakers.

Good practical advice.......and welcome to the forum btw.

 

[radiorog]

Hey everyone! thanks for all your comments and posts. Haven't had much time to get back on here recently so sorry for late response. I shall reply in more detail soon. I love the look of the bass catchers tho....very sweet, but i do not have the space for something like that unfortunately.

I did buy some of the Auralex mopads tho, so thanks for the heads up on them. They seemed to make a noticeable diffenrece right away, although i didn't have the tolerence to swap back and forth ten times to find out exactly, just a couple, and i do think that the entire sound is cleaner and crisper....which is great.

The bass boom is still here tho in the bassier tracks, like house music etc, and a kd lang cd has surprised me by being the bassiest of them all...who knew?!

If i put plugs in tho, the boom goes and i can live with this. I do think the sound quality is altered tho unfortunately a little, so i am still looking to solve problem. I think i will try some of the basic sound insulation foam tiles as they seem cheap enough (£30 for 24 on amazon) and hope this can trap enough of the boom to help.

70% of my listening isn't effected by the boom btw, as not all cds sound boomy, and listening at lower volumes lowers boom too.

Overall I am still mega chuffed with the brio-r. It's a cracking amp with amazing levels of clarity, but with a lovely warm and yet crisp sound. Spot on! :dance:

 

[p_m_brown]

Glad you have had some success with sorting out the room damping. I didn't have any luck with the foam method.

I play bass guitar so was able to work out the notes that boomed the most in my room and work out the frequency from there but also found this very useful - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tr9-PzJl_c

I found I had a particular issue around 70hz and and again at 40hz but given that I listen to very little with 40hz bass in it I bought a couple of wall mount panels by Blue Frog acoustics that work down to 70hz. They are about 7" thick but the depth is required to absorb the longer bass frequency waves.

I found they worked best placed behind my listening position, not behind the speakers and moving the sofa away from the back wall improved things further.

 

[emperor's new clothes]

Thanks to all for the advise given above. My 3 feet high, grey foam 'toblerones" arrived from Amazon - I had toyed with GIF but very expensive - and my DM2/7s have been transformed. Due to room effects, upper -mid bass boom was worse than I had realised and Bass drum is now much more distinct from bass guitar with added benefits further up the frequency range. If you can live with the aesthetics, bass traps are without doubt the answer to many problems highlighted on this forum. NB. Do not have to be in a corner and are self supporting -easily moved. Foam plugs for rear ports, like tone controls, tend to throw the sonic baby out with the bath water. Bass traps, even foam cheapies, are a revelation. Thanks again for the recommendations.