Elac debut 2.0 6.2 bass question.

[Blackop555]

Hey all, long time reader and I've finally had something that's been bothering me so I made an account for some hopeful insight.

I have the elac debut 2.0 in my kitchen set up. I have a Sony av320 stereo receiver hooked to it. Almost every song sounds great through it. I let my phone play random songs through it. I have the volume turned up between 2 and 3 and it fills the kitchen with sound and the living room. So it's loudish, but I believe no where near maxed. I keep all the audio controls on 0/ neutral and only have the dfib button pressed. Occasionally a song will come on and some parts of the song sound almost rattley/distorted in the bass. But lots of heavier bass songs sound find. The best example I have of this happening is in the song apocalypse by cigarettes after sex. Which does it a lot during that song but I don't even perceive that song as being very heavy on bass. So anyways just looking to see how I can eleviate this or some advice. It is slightly annoying to have to get up and turn the song down just for one song or skip an otherwise enjoyable song. Thanks in advance

 

[staticV3]

Hi @Blackop555! Welcome to ASR.

What you're describing sure sounds like constructive room modes.

It's a phenomenon where, based on the placement of your speakers, the dimensions of your room, and your listening position within that room, certain bass frequencies end up massively boosted.

If a song happens to hit that frequency, you get annoying rattles and unnatural, boomy bass that lingers.

Then you skip to the next song and the issue is gone like magic, simply because the song happens to not hit that frequency.

This is par for the course in nearly every listening environment.

The most cost-effective solution I believe is a WiiM Mini.
It has built-in Parametric EQ, which is different from regular tone controls/slider EQ and because of this, it's the perfect tool for countering constructive room modes.

You can use the WiiM's RoomFit feature which tries to correct these bass peaks automatically, or do it manually using software like Room EQ Wizard.

The process is:
1. Measure frequency response to expose bass peaks
2. Develop EQ parameters which counteract said peaks
3. Store EQ parameters to WiiM, which applies them to all audio played through it

Then you can send your music to the WiiM and enjoy a peak-free sound.

Here's an example measurement if you're interested:


Green: default frequency response without room correction
Blue: frequency response with WiiM Parametric EQ applied

 

[Blackop555]

Hi @Blackop555! Welcome to ASR.

What you're describing sure sounds like constructive room modes.

It's a phenomenon where, based on the placement of your speakers, the dimensions of your room, and your listening position within that room, certain bass frequencies end up massively boosted.

If a song happens to hit that frequency, you get annoying rattles and unnatural, boomy bass that lingers.

Then you skip to the next song and the issue is gone like magic, simply because the song happens to not hit that frequency.

This is par for the course in nearly every listening environment.

The most cost-effective solution I believe is a WiiM Mini.
It has built-in Parametric EQ, which is different from regular tone controls/slider EQ and because of this, it's the perfect tool for countering constructive room modes.

You can use the WiiM's RoomFit feature which tries to correct these bass peaks automatically, or do it manually using software like Room EQ Wizard.

The process is:
1. Measure frequency response to expose bass peaks
2. Develop EQ parameters which counteract said peaks
3. Store EQ parameters to WiiM, which applies them to all audio played through it

Then you can send your music to the WiiM and enjoy a peak-free sound.

Here's an example measurement if you're interested:

View attachment 489117
Green: default frequency response without room correction
Blue: frequency response with WiiM Parametric EQ applied

Thank you for the advice

 

[l_lama]

Before getting any hardware, find some sine tone generator (app or online service like https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/) and try to identify the frequency with audible issues.

Set loudness above average to make problem obvious.

In may case, it was case of lamp resonating at 72Hz or so. If you have thick carpet in another room, try to bring it there and see if probles tone persist.

Room correction can remove bass excess. It can't fix the missed bass frequencies eaten by room, so moving things could be still necessary.