Poor bass at sitting location

[Raj_73]

Hello,
I am into critical music listening and in the process of updating my amps/speakers and chords. Also I am working on fitting 4inch thick fiberglass at key locations such as wall corners. I've done some (fitted traps at 6 corners (my room shape is abit awkward) of the rooms and still find the bass at my sitting location flat as compared to when i stand up or move closer to speakers. I like rock and bass reproduction is key. Thanx in advance.
ps. i own a marant pm7001 amp, rotel rb1070 power amp, PSBimage T6 speakers

 

[soundguruman]

Plugging corners with fiberglass, to stop standing waves does not improve bass.

Putting the woofer as close to the floor as possible (2" or less) does improve the bass. This also works on a wall or ceiling. But keep the speakers out of the corners, which produces standing waves.
Keep the mid range and tweeters at ear level, woofer on the floor.

If you can't do that, buy a separate subwoofer, or a new set of speakers. A single sub in mono works just as well as two subs in stereo.
An example of good bass design in ALLISON speakers, the tweat and mid at ear level, the woofer down at the very bottom, to couple with the floor. BIG BIG improvement.

 

[jacobboe89]

Hello,
I am into critical music listening and in the process of updating my amps/speakers and chords. Also I am working on fitting 4inch thick fiberglass at key locations such as wall corners. I've done some (fitted traps at 6 corners (my room shape is abit awkward) of the rooms and still find the bass at my sitting location flat as compared to when i stand up or move closer to speakers. I like rock and bass reproduction is key. Thanx in advance.
ps. i own a marant pm7001 amp, rotel rb1070 power amp, PSBimage T6 speakers

sounds to me as if you have standing waves and all you can do is tial and error , as your situatuation is uniqe . try palying with placement of speakers or removeing a trap . or as soundgruman suggested , add a powered sub .

 

[musical marv]

Hello,
I am into critical music listening and in the process of updating my amps/speakers and chords. Also I am working on fitting 4inch thick fiberglass at key locations such as wall corners. I've done some (fitted traps at 6 corners (my room shape is abit awkward) of the rooms and still find the bass at my sitting location flat as compared to when i stand up or move closer to speakers. I like rock and bass reproduction is key. Thanx in advance.
ps. i own a marant pm7001 amp, rotel rb1070 power amp, PSBimage T6 speakers

Tube Traps will smother your bass and not make it sound fuller at all. Use a subwoofer like someone stated or hire a professional acoustic engineer which will help you a lot. Google the information you want also.

 

[Raj_73]

Thanx for all the inputs. I have gooled and read that bass traps is the solution (at least the best possible option) given that i can relayout my room. Subwoofer works well for home theater, but for audio/stereo i'll stick to front L/R only.
Well i will continue my trial and errors...latest discovery is to bring speaker a little closer to the back wall that has imporved the bass response..i'm checking if its sucking out other frequencies..

 

[mikesorensen06]

Without knowing your room size and volume, your best options are to move your speakers. Start by dividing your room into thirds and set your system up into the first third. Make sure your speakers for left and right channels are equal distance from the side walls. Mark your starting positions with tape at the speaker corners. Spend time listening and make small adjustments to your speakers along one axis first. For example, mark the speaker start point and then move both speakers forward 1" and then listen again. Hopefully this process will help you find a bass response curve you like.

 

[SmurfOnABoat]

This is how I setup sub placement. Place the subwoofer in the position in which you normally sit. And move around the room until you find the best possible sound coming from the sub and then place the sub in the position, and it should sound close to how you figured it, make sure the phasing of the sub is the same as it was to where you were standing when it was in your seating position.

 

[Raj_73]

Hi Mike,
Thanx for your inputs. Yes that was what i've been doing past weeks and i can see it bearing results! I also came to realize that different recodings greatly differs in quality - so alot to do with the mixing engineer too
I realized that Santana's CD titled Guitar Greats plays perfectly (as how a nice rock tune shud sound like) with no tone control while i need to boost a bit of the bass on my Marantz for flatter recordings like U2's Joshua Tree. Fortunately the tone control on the Maranzt PM7001 KI Signature is not the shelving type, thus i almost see no lost on the soundstage while i up the bass by 3-4 db.

 

[mikesorensen06]

Hi Raj,

Now that you have had some positioning/listening time with your sub woofer, you now realize how important the room is on your low frequency energy. You can also lift your sub off the floor and try some listening. Keeping your sub woofer on the floor will give you more bass, but not quality bass. Your goal is to have bass that has layers and has the ability to deliver every note in a clean and concise manner. You want a good transient attack and decay rate.

To elevate your bass and make it tighter, build one of those 4" fiberglass boxes you are using for your walls and make a smaller one for your sub woofer to sit on. I would use a minimum material density of 2 lbs. / sq. ft. on your box. MDF is a good choice to start with. We have three subs in our test facility. One is 18" off the floor, one is 23", and one is 36" off the floor. We continually change their heights for different low frequency curves for product testing.

Good Listening,
Mike

 

[Raj_73]

Hi Tom,
Maybe I did not make myself clear, i am not using a subwoofer. STicking to floor standing front speakers only. Agreed with u completely on quality bass... that led me bass traps and absorbers (Ethan Winer seem to be the name that has so many hits in web) that i built using the avilable 56kg/m3 density (highest available here in Malaysia) - 2 pieces of 2'x4'x2'' are stacked and placed at room corners and side walls where relection happens. They are definately helping improve the sound quality, especially the low freq response.
I guess being a fan of rock music, i just yearn for the punch of the kick drum & bass guitar, thus this need to do everything possible on room treatment and positioning...for now subwoofer is used only for home theater!
again, thanx for your help!