Thread: Speaker Placement

Hi folks, Just moved into a new place. I’m having trouble with boomy bass. I’ve been shuffling these Harbeth’s around for weeks. Suggestions please.... Thank you.. oh.. the room is about 14’ deep....

Could you provide more info on the room?
Size, height, construction type, openings, furnishings, windows ETC

Sure, A basic NYC apartment with a rectangular living room that is 20’X14’. With bachelor furniture, couch tables area rug, etc... 8’ ceiling height.

At amcoustics.com they have a room calculator called AMROC. You can load in your specifics and it will show you your room nodes, frequencies and pressure zones.
Reading thru the information might help you to better understand what is occuring in your room.
I had a similar room and the only way I could get it to work was to pull the speakers WAY out into the room and far apart and with a great degree of toe-in. Basically nearfield listening.
Don't give up, keep trying different and unusual positions.
Perhaps others can also chime in with their experiences.

consider that along the middle line of the room (as you move forward or back relative to your speakers) you will have peaks and nulls.

likely the boomy-ness will exist regardless of where you put your speakers (small room acoustics), but you might find a listening spot where the balance is acceptable. also consider a diagonal set-up into a corner. try raising or lowering your speakers, sometimes the bass driver/floor relationship is critical and a few inches can be significant.....costs zero to try. and if you sit with your back up to the middle of a long wall sometimes that is the place with the least bass reinforcement.

lastly; buy an RTA and walk around the room and see if you can find a spot where the peak is the least prevalent.

i have an old one like this (Phonic PAA3);

Access to this page has been denied.

good luck.

Originally Posted by Mike Lavigne

consider that along the middle line of the room (as you move forward or back relative to your speakers) you will have peaks and nulls.

likely the boomy-ness will exist regardless of where you put your speakers (small room acoustics), but you might find a listening spot where the balance is acceptable. also consider a diagonal set-up into a corner. try raising or lowering your speakers, sometimes the bass driver/floor relationship is critical and a few inches can be significant.....costs zero to try. and if you sit with your back up to the middle of a long wall sometimes that is the place with the least bass reinforcement.

lastly; buy an RTA and walk around the room and see if you can find a spot where the peak is the least prevalent.

i have an old one like this (Phonic PAA3);

Access to this page has been denied.

good luck.

Some great recommendations.
For an RTA you can download the AudioTools app on your phone for $19.95
This can be used with disc like "Audio Check" on Tidal which provides sweep tones, pink noise and more.

Duplicate post

I used REW, with a uMik-1 to help my 9.5x14 foot room. Boom at 40hz, pretty standard for a small room, I hear. I have lots of treatment, but truly treating that boom is a problem, as traps that actually trap 40hz are voluminous, and I would need several. The corner wedges, and large back wall bass trap do help, a lot.

One day I am going to put my sub back in the system and use the PEQ to try and actively lower the 40hz area, but I would need to trim that off the main speakers that go down into the 30s. I am just not that into putting a mini-dsp board, and convert my vinyl, and DSD playback to 24/96 in the middle of things in a dsp equalizer. Several other options, of course.

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. I thought all I had to do was spend the $ and plug it in!! This the most challenging set up ever.... I’ll keep you posted....

Originally Posted by Penthouse-D

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. I thought all I had to do was spend the $ and plug it in!! This the most challenging set up ever.... I’ll keep you posted....

If you still have issues after addressing all of the replies, to date, a StraightTalk session has always helped all ST clients... :

StraightTalk | Get Better Sound

Originally Posted by Penthouse-D

I thought all I had to do was spend the $ and plug it in!! .

Unfortunately true. That said, speaking of plugging, have you tried plugging the ports on your Harbeths? That will definitely reduce the overall LF output.
Unsure if they come with those foam type plugs ala KEFs, etc, but, temporarily, you could stick a sock in it. No kidding.

cheers,

AJ

Thanks AJ. Very good idea.

Keep them out of the corners.

There have been some interesting solutions offered.

IME, none of them will really unlock your music - in fact, some of them will keep it locked up for certain.

I'd say if you do anything from them, I'd go with Mike Lavigne's suggestions and/or A.J.'s.

Room eq/dsp, etc. will not help nearly as much as it could until you find the best seating position for the smoothest bass, then address speaker position, etc...

In fact, having successfully voiced over 1,000 systems to rooms in my career, with one well-known and well-reviewed (TAS & 6Moons - Stereophile Show in S.F., 2003) exception, I have never used any form of electronic correction, other than slight adjustments on the built-in controls in the recent Avantgarde Acoustic bass units.

IMO, IME of course.

Entirely too often, DSP is seen as a sidestep/short-cut/band-aid for acquiring proper acoustic wave-launch into the room and receiving it properly at the listening seat, and it simply is not.

I have had only had a few sessions with requested DSP for clients (requested prior to my arrival), but after all the work was done on delivering Dynamics, Presence, & Tone, everyone chose to go without the DSP.