Unhappy with system, time for a change?
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 748 Registered: Jan-05 | Here's my scenario. I've just come home from Uni and my set up sounds quite a bit different (upstairs instead of ground floor and with hollow walls instead of solid). At Uni I did find the treble a little prominent and the bass a bit thin but other positives of the setup up made up for it. I have an a&r cambridge a60 (arcam) with acoustic energy aegis neo 1s and this setup sure gets a lot of things right. But right now, more than ever is how hissy and thin it sounds. Theres no bass impact or that midrange 'thickness' that wharfedale diamonds have with their kevlar drivers! Do I need a subwoofer perhaps to balance it out and fill the lower octaves and midbands? Or is my system generally a bad match. Please help me, its no longer musical!  |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 601 Registered: Jul-07 | Please describe your listening room. Dimensions, layout, flooring, furnishings, listening position, wall coverings, ceiling materials, speaker positioning, etc. Pictures are even better! What sort of rack is your equipment in ? Are you using any acoustic isolation or dampening devices ? |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2705 Registered: Feb-07 | Interesting that changing rooms can make the system sound so dramatically different. I'm guessing the room you have your system in now is bigger than your previous room at university? |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2706 Registered: Feb-07 | Obvious question, but have you tried moving the speakers around JJ? |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 749 Registered: Jan-05 | Chris, heres the pictures..my room is a mess because I haven't unpacked properly yet, just handled the important stuff! The amplifier is on top of the desk. Using Chord Din Interconnect and Classic Cables ( I love Chord). I've just notched the bass up to half 1 on the amp and this seems to have done the trick to some extent. I honestly think I need a small sub which I can put underneath my desk. Dave, I have done and before I had them completely parallel to the walls, as they are in the pictures seems to work better. As you can see, I have very little room to work with. Interestingly enough, my room at university was about twice the size!   |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2712 Registered: Feb-07 | Thanks for the pics JJ. With the room furnished the way it is, it'll be difficult to get optimal speaker placement, that's for sure. The left speaker is really close to the wall. Have you tried moving it out a bit? |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2713 Registered: Feb-07 | ... oh yeah - clean your room! lol. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 750 Registered: Jan-05 | Hahaha I knew that was coming!! I haven't tried that, its just in all honesty it has to be like that or I wont be able to move around. Here's a thought for you.. If i turn the volume right down and creep it back up I notice treble is very previlent on low volume. Only at a medium and louder volume does music become acceptable. If I turn the bass up to FULL!! then at low volume, music sounds more like it should. Does that back up my theory for why I think a subwoofer would sort stuff? |
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Platinum Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 10048 Registered: Feb-05 | The room looks well dampened.... |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 12718 Registered: Dec-04 | The left speaker port displacement is bouncing off the wall and against a mirror. |
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Gold Member Username: T_bomb25Dayton, Ohio United States Post Number: 2202 Registered: Jun-05 | The doorway isnt doing him any favor either,I would try another way with no doorway or closet opening like where your bed is.Like Art said the room looks well dampened,and it doesent look to big for the Neo's to perform optimumly without a sub,just play around with different walls,you should be fine,or either your just ready to get new speakers.lol |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 12721 Registered: Dec-04 | Clean up the space, be ready to move things around, then have sullied underwear as specific damping materials. |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 12722 Registered: Dec-04 | I suggest guest p@nties on the headboard... works for me. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 751 Registered: Jan-05 | I'm glad it passes the dampening test. I really wish I could have had the desk against the larger wall with speakers either side, but I couldnt convince the parents when we were decorating the room a few years back. I suspected the doorway and mirror would be a culprit. My room is generally a poor setup then! New speakers I can only imagine would cost considerably more than what I can afford! I'll live with the bass turned up a bit for now, I'm surprised how more balanced it sounds by just doing this. I may try covering part of the miror! |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 752 Registered: Jan-05 | Nuck, no way!! |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 12724 Registered: Dec-04 | way |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2717 Registered: Feb-07 | P@nties work nicely as port bungs. Better than socks. |
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Platinum Member Username: NuckPost Number: 12726 Registered: Dec-04 | let's just stop this here. |
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Gold Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 2718 Registered: Feb-07 | ok. I'm done. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 602 Registered: Jul-07 | The room may be too well damped. I'm guessing that you have some very good (and accidental) bass traps....the box spring, mattress, and comforter especially. If sound balance is the issue, then you need to have less in the room that absorbs the frequency of sound that you're missing....in this case bass. The lack of one frequency range can make the another frequency range seem overstated, when perhaps it isn't. You probably don't want to do this but if you could, try largely emptying the room, orient the speakers in some reasonable method, and then slowly add things back in and see what happens as you do. You may not be able to leave things that way, but you'll at least know how much of the issue is room, and how much is gear. I think you'd get great sound out of your gear if you can get the room right. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 753 Registered: Jan-05 | Chris you've hit it right on the mark. Last night it was so hot I couldnt sleep so I decided to tinker with things. Its not the bass that I needed more off, it was treble which I needed less off. I've toned the treble down by about 6db (according to graphs in my amplifier manual). So from 1khz, there is a gentle roll off and this has improved the balance. Bass isn't as I remember it but it's substantial now I've tinkered with the treble and music is more like it should be. I'm not sure why it works, but it does. I would guess its because my speakers are quite small/the tweeter is overkill for my small room? I shall definately clean up the room within the next week (theres a lot of things to sort out) to see what difference this makes. Unfortunately, theres not much I can do about these accidental bass traps I have. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 754 Registered: Jan-05 | O, the balance is also set to very far left! This creates a more stable image with how I've placed the speakers which are now parallel to the walls and 3 inch away from them. |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 605 Registered: Jul-07 | Is your back right against the wall when you are in your listening position ? Are you in that back corner or on a sidewall ? Where would the primary reflection points be on either side of you ? Sorry for all of the questions. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godLancaster, Lancashire England Post Number: 757 Registered: Jan-05 | I listen from two areas, from that corner on the bed and from the chair when at my computer as background music not 'critical' so to speak, since I dont have any option. I'm unsure how my room reflects, all I can tell you is that the speakers both face walls, parellel to backwalls, 5 inch gap since 3 inch was too boomy. I'm not a fan of my room for setting up a system. That said, it still sounds brilliant! End of September this year and a new room means desk placement!! |
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Silver Member Username: HawkbillyNova Scotia Canada Post Number: 606 Registered: Jul-07 | Thanks. Listening in a corner can focus reflected sound, as can listening too close to a back wall. Some of the treble glare or gain might be due to this. Just a thought. I'm glad you've got it sounding better. |
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