Room treatment? - new house, new speakers, not good!

[M5sime]

Hi,

I recently moved to a modern house and its still relatively lightly furnished.. Carpet floors on concrete. My MA GS20s (floor standers) sounded horrible and overpowering, and so used the excuse to go smaller and bought some KEF LS50s and stands.. They image so much more nicely and soundstage is great.. But the bass bloom is still there.. Definitely a resonance/activation from the room in lower notes..

So my spending spree has not yet given me the perfect result I was after (and lesson learned). I have played with moving them away from the wall more (around 1M to side and 3/4M from the wall). I have started looking at acoustic panels and bass traps (do not think they are going to look nice)..

Has anyone used treatments in the room - to improve acoustics? It seems very natural in a recording studio, but in the home something less talked about..

I have not had infinite time to play more with room layout (but I do not have alot of choice).

Any ideas or suggestions??

BR
Simon

 

[DocG]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

 

[wilro15]

If bass is your problem try something like Dspeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 or miniDsp. If higher frequencies are an issue then look to dampen the room with carpet / rugs / curtains / acoustic panels / etc.

I made my own acoustic panels using printed canvases stuffed with acoustic insulation. It took the edge of my room.

 

[peterpan]

I know you problem. I have it too. I'm living in the Netherlands in a modern house. I will place panels.

http://www.rivasono.nl/shop/plaatsing/20-aan-het-plafond

 

[NJB]

I had similar issues and was convinced that ?I needed more space around them. However, cured mine by using bungs and backing the speaker against the wall. The result is controlled bass and I am more than happy. I think that experimentation might help you before you start with anything drastic and expensive.

 

[andyjm]

Hi,

I recently moved to a modern house and its still relatively lightly furnished.. Carpet floors on concrete. My MA GS20s (floor standers) sounded horrible and overpowering, and so used the excuse to go smaller and bought some KEF LS50s and stands.. They image so much more nicely and soundstage is great.. But the bass bloom is still there.. Definitely a resonance/activation from the room in lower notes..

So my spending spree has not yet given me the perfect result I was after (and lesson learned). I have played with moving them away from the wall more (around 1M to side and 3/4M from the wall). I have started looking at acoustic panels and bass traps (do not think they are going to look nice)..

Has anyone used treatments in the room - to improve acoustics? It seems very natural in a recording studio, but in the home something less talked about..

I have not had infinite time to play more with room layout (but I do not have alot of choice).

Any ideas or suggestions??

BRSimon

You seem to have a classic case of low frequency room resonance. Two ways to fix it. Don't excite the resonance, or damp the resonance out.

Damping the resonance can be tricky, LF will go straight through acoustic panels without blinking. Bass traps correctly placed can make a big difference - but can be unsightly.

Easy solution is to stop exciting the resonance. One of the DSP room equalisation products (mentioned above) is probably the best bet. You can either do the whole 'room equalisation' thing, or just notch out the troublesome frequencies.

My listening room has a dreadful resonance at 130Hz. I have a capable system that sounds like a £100 boombox without equalisation. Only with equalistaion does it sound halfway decent.

 

[M5sime]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

Hi! - Thank you .. My seating position is against the opposite wall to the speakers.. so this is perhaps not great and not alot I can do about this without a more drastic re think of the room layout.. I have the speakers and TV facing me across the 'shorter' wall of the lounge + dining room.. The long walls have a window at one end and conservatory at the other (doors leading to).. So its pretty hard to put the TV in the window..

Not tried the bungs yet.. The KEF's come with two modes of these to will experiment tonight.. I did however move the LS50s 1M from the rear wall and the bass bloom at the same frequency was still there..

 

[M5sime]

Hi - thank you !! I am going to use the HiFi setup also for Home Cinema.. I have an old ish Onkyo with Audessy EQ. I have not setup the home cinema yet, so not sure whether this will sound better with the EQ in Audessy.. or perhaps not sophisticated enough..

I have looked a while ago at more intensive EQ solutions. Does anyone know a cheap/simple route for measuring my room effects and seeing where my 'problem' lies... ?

 

[M5sime]

If bass is your problem try something like Dspeaker Anti-Mode 2.0 or miniDsp.

Thank you!! I will take a look.. It is definitely bass that seems to be the issue...

 

[DocG]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

Hi! - Thank you .. My seating position is against the opposite wall to the speakers.. so this is perhaps not great and not alot I can do about this without a more drastic re think of the room layout.. I have the speakers and TV facing me across the 'shorter' wall of the lounge + dining room.. The long walls have a window at one end and conservatory at the other (doors leading to).. So its pretty hard to put the TV in the window..

So do you have the bass bloom when sitting in the listening seat? Or is it the same everywhere in the room?

 

[M5sime]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

Hi! - Thank you .. My seating position is against the opposite wall to the speakers.. so this is perhaps not great and not alot I can do about this without a more drastic re think of the room layout.. I have the speakers and TV facing me across the 'shorter' wall of the lounge + dining room.. The long walls have a window at one end and conservatory at the other (doors leading to).. So its pretty hard to put the TV in the window..

So do you have the bass bloom when sitting in the listening seat? Or is it the same everywhere in the room?

Hi - I have not listened in all places. I will need to be more scientific tonight. The bass issue seems to be one frequency and more of a low bass than a kick drum/punch bass.

 

[DocG]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

Hi! - Thank you .. My seating position is against the opposite wall to the speakers.. so this is perhaps not great and not alot I can do about this without a more drastic re think of the room layout.. I have the speakers and TV facing me across the 'shorter' wall of the lounge + dining room.. The long walls have a window at one end and conservatory at the other (doors leading to).. So its pretty hard to put the TV in the window..

So do you have the bass bloom when sitting in the listening seat? Or is it the same everywhere in the room?

Hi - I have not listened in all places. I will need to be more scientific tonight. The bass issue seems to be one frequency and more of a low bass than a kick drum/punch bass.

Sounds like a room mode indeed. Try the Audissey engine in your AVR to see what can be gained with DSP. Take it from there.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

I have a dedicated room for my system so I am lucky. It has a tiled floor though so took some taming. I bought Bass Traps from Gik Acoustics for the corners and the back wall, which I don't sit against. They worked really well. Gik offer an advice service and also, I believe, will print pictures onto bass traps to make them more aesthetically acceptable.

I would start with Audyssey first though as you already have that and may help tame your problem.

 

[matt49]

Hi - thank you !! I am going to use the HiFi setup also for Home Cinema.. I have an old ish Onkyo with Audessy EQ. I have not setup the home cinema yet, so not sure whether this will sound better with the EQ in Audessy.. or perhaps not sophisticated enough..

I have looked a while ago at more intensive EQ solutions. Does anyone know a cheap/simple route for measuring my room effects and seeing where my 'problem' lies... ?

There's a cheap route, though you may not find it simple.

You need a calibrated mic (e.g. the UMIK-1 which can be bought from Purité Audio), and you need to download the Room Equalization Wizard software (it's a free download).

 

[NJB]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you tried the half-bungs/bungs of your speakers yet?

Where is your listening seat located? It should be well away from the back-wall (for the same reason you pull the speakers into the room).

Hi! - Thank you .. My seating position is against the opposite wall to the speakers.. so this is perhaps not great and not alot I can do about this without a more drastic re think of the room layout.. I have the speakers and TV facing me across the 'shorter' wall of the lounge + dining room.. The long walls have a window at one end and conservatory at the other (doors leading to).. So its pretty hard to put the TV in the window..

So do you have the bass bloom when sitting in the listening seat? Or is it the same everywhere in the room?

Hi - I have not listened in all places. I will need to be more scientific tonight. The bass issue seems to be one frequency and more of a low bass than a kick drum/punch bass.

Have you tried them with bungs, right against the wall? Worked for me and saved me the hassle of room eq measurement.