Question about bassport

[Fortygrillsector]

Hi,

I want to buy new speakers, but I have the following problem/question. I currently have the Focal Aria 926. They're beautiful speakers, detailed, and have a nice spread of the instruments, but they sound a bit sharp in the highs. I want to switch to the Sonus Faber Lumina V speakers. They're beautiful speakers with what i heard and read no listening fatique. I listened to them in a hi-fi store today next to the arias, and they sound great, the arias sounded sharp to me. Before the Focals, I had the Dali Opticon 6 MK2 for a year. I tried a lot to not let the bass dominate, which didn't work. The Focals are 50 cm from the wall, and whether I place them close to or far from the wall, they still sound fantastic.

I've tried everything with the Dalis speakers, including tiles under the speakers, room corrections etc. I had to place them about 1.5 meters from the wall to get them to sound 'decent', but unfortunately, I don't have the space. So, I eventually switched to the Arias, which has a front-firing and downfiring bass port. The Dalis had a rear bass port, the Luminas a bottom-firing port, both 4 ohms, and the Arias an 8 ohm. I'm currently using the Isoacoustics Gaia 3 speakers with the Arias, which i must say, didnt had when i owned de dalis if that should matter.

I was wondering if I could find out, before I buy the Luminas, whether they'll be too much bass for my room. or should I buy them and pay close attention to the return policy?

Thanks in advance! (Sorry if i post this in the wrong thread, can be deleted then)

 

[kyuu]

If I'm understand what you're saying correctly, then it won't matter what speaker you're using (unless it has a seriously recessed bass response). Any speaker will get reinforcement at the lower frequencies when you place it close a boundary (wall). The best way to address this is with measurement and EQ (room correction).

 

[DVDdoug]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but have you tried simply turning down the bass? Do you have tone controls or EQ? The same thing is the easy fix for "sharp highs".

I'm going to guess the problem is room acoustics. The speakers shouldn't be THAT bad. We ALL have room problems, but some are worse than others. Or maybe it's just your taste and you don't like as much bass as most people.

At this point it's probably worth (to you) spending $100 on a measurement mic and taking some time with REW to measure the room (and speakers together).

Depending on your source, it may be possible to correct the parametric equalization or "room correction". If you're using a computer, PEQ won't cost you anything, or if you have an AVR with room correction it's even easier. (Regular graphic EQ usually isn't precise enough but still can help.)

The good news is... The bumps in bass response which are usually more annoying than the dips (and I think you're confirming that) can usually be fixed with EQ. The dips, where standing waves cancel aren't so easy to fix because it takes "infinite power" to overcome the cancellation.

Arias, which has a front-firing and downfiring bass port. The Dalis had a rear bass port, the Luminas a bottom-firing port

Given the long wavelengths of bass, that's not important unless a rear-firing port is right-up near the wall and effectively blocking it.

both 4 ohms, and the Arias an 8 ohm.

That's not important either, unless your amplifier isn't capable of driving 4-Ohm speakers. Impedance and resistance (both Ohms) is "the resistance to current flow". With lower impedance you get more current and more power (Wattage) with the same voltage. i.e. A 100W light bulb has lower resistance than a 75W bulb. That doesn't necessarily mean louder because loudness also depends on the sensitivity/efficiency of the speaker. If the amplifier isn't rated for the lower impedance it can be over-stressed, over-heat, shut-down, or die.

They're beautiful speakers with what i heard and read no listening fatigue.

Fatigue is psychology. For somebody to say speakers are fatiguing, without saying what it is about them that makes them fatiguing is meaningless. It could be true (for them) but it's useless information.