New PC / amp / speaker setup, help needed with positioning!

[mrblitz]

Hi all

I have been a member/lurker here for a few years but haven't ever really post. Anyway...I have recently finished setting up a PC for music listening in my study. Some of the components I already had and some I have bought recently. Anyway, once all set up I began some listening using JRiver Media Player and FLAC files.

All I can say is I am very diappointed with the sound I am getting

I'm almost certain this is because of the position of the speakers in relation to me. As you can see in the photo, the speakers are either side of the computer desk and are 6 feet apart (that's as close together as they'll go) When sitting in the chair at the desk I am only 4 feet from each speaker. I cannot move the desk any further back into the room.

At first listen the problems were a lack of bass, and a very harsh treble which was almost painful to my ears. I moved the speakers closer to the back wall (they are now 8 inches from the wall) and this has helped improve the bass a bit. Toeing the speakers in towards the listening position really accentuates the treble so they are now facing straight forward. However there is still a muddied bottom end and quite a harsh treble, in short they sound pretty awful.

Can anyone make any suggestions to improve the situation given the limitations of the room?

Thank you!

Set up is as follows:

Asus Xonar D2 soundcard

Beresford Caiman with Gator mod

Rega Brio-R amp

B&W 385 speakers

Alpha stands

QED Performance digital coax cable

Audioquest flx/slip 14/4 speaker cable

Atlas Element RCA cable

 

[mrblitz]

No opinions??

 

[Overdose]

This part of the forum is slow.

Try lifting your speakers, they look a little low to me and maybe toe in slightly.

Your room might need some soft furnishings to soften the sound a bit.

Have a search for accoustic treatment, it's quite suprising how room acoustics affect sound quality.

 

[mrblitz]

It does seem a bit slow here! I thought computer based music was the future!? Should I perhaps post in the Hifi section too?

Thanks for your input Overdose, I had wondered if the speakers should be raised up a bit. I will look in to accoustic treatments too.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Could the sloping ceiling above each speaker be affecting the sound?

 

[superchiwawa]

A little toe in should be required for you listening postion - you know, that equilateral triangle thing . Have you tried moving them in a completely different position altogether? ie no sloped wall? As with any problem, I'd got for picking one variable, change it, test, look for a difference. If none it's probably something else

Speaker position and tricky room acoustics aside, I've no info on the sound card, but getting quality audio from inside a computer is tricky stuff - there's so much interferrence going on. Just for the sake of it, have you tried swapping sources? Dismissing your computer alltogether? It could also be a driver problem... at least you'll be able to eliminate/isolate each component in your system

Edit: you can also try bypassing your card and going straight to the dac via USB for another test. Note that the standard windows drivers don't support 192k audio - only 96 max....No idea if Jriver has a fix for that. I know Cambridge audio have their own driver though that you can download - maybe so do Beresford!