Content but not happy

[georgepapan]

Good morning from Athens, Greece! I am a content owner of a home audio system consisting of a Yamaha A-S701 amplifier, Wharfedale Linton Heritage speakers, a reliable Cambridge Audio CXN V2 streamer, and two Yamaha NS-SW200 subwoofers.


My living room is a typical space, measuring 4 by 8 meters. I have positioned the speakers about 90 cm away from the front wall, distance between the speakers 1,80m but I feel like something is still missing...

 

[goat76]

There is probably nothing wrong with your hardware or your speakers, so don't go out chasing "upgrades".

I think you should play with your listening positioning and speakers' positioning, the room acoustics, and EQ. In that order. Those things will likely have a much bigger impact on the overall sound in your listening room. Invest in some measuring equipment if you don't have that already.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I feel like something is still missing

Sometimes people expect their commercial pre-recorded music playback to sound a certain way and are disappointed that neutral playback isn't more exciting, rich, lively, intense (pick a word to suit). I often think it's more to do with the disappointing quality of commercially mastered content.

 

[YouDontHaveEnoughBass]

have you measured the system in room? before i got a measurement mic i always felt something was missing, turned out i had a big 12db bass peak at 46hz; when i pruned this, the rest of the bass could come up and it sounded drastically better - also its easy to underestimate how much the bass should be turned up for low / moderate volume listening

 

[georgepapan]

have you measured the system in room? before i got a measurement mic i always felt something was missing, turned out i had a big 12db bass peak at 46hz; when i pruned this, the rest of the bass could come up and it sounded drastically better - also its easy to underestimate how much the bass should be turned up for low / moderate volume listening

It's obvious that a measurement will help but unfortunately the whole drill (rew,mic etc)is all Greek to me....(although I am Greek)

 

[1066]

Do you have a way of implementing EQ George?

I think you could measure what you are getting in-room. There is some knowledge support here on this site for you.

It would be frustrating for you to measure your sound in-room and not be able to make adjustments though.

 

[YouDontHaveEnoughBass]

for something a bit more quick and dirty you could try stuffing the ports of the lintons and running the subs up to 100hz (ive got a pair of lintons myself and an svs 3000 micro between them)

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

I feel like something is still missing.

What something? What do you want more of? Detail? Sound stage bigger? Bass? Treble? Attack?

Definitely try moving the speakers narrower and wider, closer and further from the wall. That's free to try. Given subs, try the speakers 1/3 of the way into the room, if you can do that, it's worth a try. Particularly if you can sit at the 2/3 point.

Also free, try adjusting the tone controls for bass and treble. See if a change of + or - 1-2dB moves you closer to what is missing.

I did consider the Lintons in the past. Many consider them "smooth" and "warm". So they don't produce the most detailed sound, but a very good one! There's nothing wrong with the Lintons really, they were one of three final choices for me. But not my final choice for maximizing detail in playback, which was a high priority for me.

If all I want is detail, it's headphones for me, btw.

I think people here can give you a lot of advice on how to get what you want. But you need to know what you want first.

 

[Apesbrain]

It's obvious that a measurement will help but unfortunately the whole drill (rew,mic etc)is all Greek to me....(although I am Greek)

You might consider using an outboard EQ and measurement microphone. No computer needed, just set EQ in auto mode at first and you can fine tune from there.

Behringer's Ultimate Tone Control Ultra High-Precision Digital 24-Bit/96 kHz EQ/RTA Mastering Equalizer Review By A. Colin Flood

Behringer's Ultimate Tone Control Ultra High-Precision Digital 24-Bit/96 kHz EQ/RTA Mastering Equalizer - Enjoy the Music.com Review Magazine

www.enjoythemusic.com

 

[Power Pop 23]

It's obvious that a measurement will help but unfortunately the whole drill (rew,mic etc)is all Greek to me....(although I am Greek)

Welcome to ASR !

Consider auditioning a WiiM-branded streamer to see if it can match the functionality of your Cambridge Audio streamer.

The app for a WiiM streamer can automatically measure your room and apply room correction with the option to apply Parametric EQ too.

 

[mhardy6647]

referencing:

(ca. 1907)

 

[Chrispy]

My first thought is that without bass management or better subs they're the direction I'd to look into.

 

[Oddball]

There are so many better things to do in Athens so are you sure you want to dig into audio rabbit hole? Being content is great.

But if you do want to dig in, you are at the right place. You will need to spend some time with REW and likely some additional gear. Or just decide that content is still great.

 

[Everett T]

Gets a sub or subs that can out play your mains. That and bass management are your weak links.

 

[OldHvyMec]

I'd be asking the question, "Have I heard a system that I really liked?" AND then go from there.

That is the question I asked when I was a 12-year-old kid. I finally heard a few great systems and didn't chase to many crazy things, but by the time I was 14-15 I had purchased my first Mcintosh gear and built Jensen Imperials from plans you could get from the local lumber company and the plywood he had that was surplus Navy 1" marine ply.

I picked speaker drivers in the early 70s called Ribbons and changed from my wonderful Imperials to them, and I never looked back. I still have 6 24" Strathearns stashed somewhere. I never heard or liked anything more than small ribbons and planars. I may have tried a few different boxes and even a few different manufacturers, but I never chased someone else's BS, and I'm the happier person for it.

Over 100 sets of speaker builds later, I still love that type of speaker. If you love it when you were younger and your ears were in great shape, why on earth would a person change when their ears are older and in far worse shape?

The quality of the question you ask, often results in a lot better answer, ay? Ask a better question, and you will likely get a better answer.

What have you heard that you liked better, that grabbed you, that excited you, and see what made that happen. BTW, it is not a money issue if you look before you leap; it's just a better understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. I just happened to realize, I really liked Mcintosh gear and a certain kind of speaker. Building the box is a whole different thing, ay?

Regards

 

[georgepapan]

Thank-you all for your time and precious help.
I have seen the Light ️️
Deactivate the damn Pure Direct,played around with subwoofer placement AND made a new great discovery
Treble and Bass knobs.
Now Manu Dibango is extremely kind with me