Speakers are causing headache in small room - 11*11 feet

[kirankasa]

Hi All, I am trying to setup a home theatre in small room.

Gear :
AVR 3800h
LCR: QA concept 40 and centre
Surrounds SL,SR: 3020i
Sub: SVS SB 1000 pro

Even though sound is enjoyable for sometime, it's causing headache even when i am listening at 70-75 db range .
Room has carpet and 4 panels on the ceiling.
I am attaching my left and right speaker frequency response, please check and let me know the problem areas and if possible any solution to fix those as well.
Thanks

 

[OldHvyMec]

Are you sealing the room by closing the door? Open the door and window. It could be the pressure in the room. Open your
mouth, if it starts raspberry your lips a couple of times to EQ your ears.

Regards

 

[kirankasa]

Are you sealing the room by closing the door?

Yes, i am sealing the room. If i open the room it's better. I moved my setup from living room to a dedicated room so that i will not disturb my family members.
What are my options ? Get rid of subwoofer, floor standers and move to small bookshelves ?

 

[OldHvyMec]

Get rid of subwoofer, floor standers and move to small bookshelves ?

Can you open a window? It's a pressure issue. The difference between the inside of your mouth and the outside of your ear. Not SPL just "P"
Up and cover the vents with course fiberglass batting 12-24" thick. Down and add vents/registers and do the same thing. The easiest is a window,
ay? In an 11X11 I'm pretty sure a FR speaker would do the trick and then limit that. The sub/bass is NOT going to go deeper because of the wave
length and the room size. The math just doesn't work.

The ONE option is an OB servo design. It pressures the room completely different. Both sides of the driver are exposed to your ears.
Pushing your eardrums in and out instead of just in. They give the perception of deeper cleaner sub/bass too. GR has them in 8" and 12'
single, double, triple and quads. I personally use 3 double 12" in a 300sf room with 8 foot lids. I still vent the room on the back wall.
Bathroom and entry door. There is still two 4X4 windows and an exterior door. Just in case I want to really blast

BTW it's not good for your ears in a sealed room. The ultimate way to harm you ears. 101 ear safety.

Regards

 

[kirankasa]

Can you open a window? It's a pressure issue

You mean while using the system? I get noise and wind from outside.From now i will keep the window open for few hours per day when i am not using. Does that work ?

BTW it's not good for your ears in a sealed room. The ultimate way to harm you ears. 101 ear safety.

Never thought about that, isn't all HT rooms typically be sealed rooms?

 

[Ktacos]

lol the sealed room being bad is just nonsense.

 

[NTK]

You mean while using the system? I get noise and wind from outside.From now i will keep the window open for few hours per day when i am not using. Does that work ?

Never thought about that, isn't all HT rooms typically be sealed rooms?

No. A loudspeaker cannot "pressurize" a room, even if it is hermetically sealed. If a room is pressurized, that means the density of the air inside has to be increased (when the air temperature remains the same). If the total volume of the room is constant, that means the total mass of the air will also increase (mass = volume × density). This violate conservation of mass.

The diaphragm of the speaker driver, when viewed from fluid dynamics point of view, only stirs the air. For vented speakers, when the diaphragm moves forward, the front of the diaphragm pushes the air, while the back pulls it by exactly the same amount. For sealed speakers, it temporarily pressurizes the room, until the diaphragm moves backward and then it de-pressurizes the room. The sound we hear from speakers comes from the elastic compression waves, not bulk fluid motions. (The bulk fluid motion from moving diaphragms decays very rapidly with distance. The sound we hear from headphones, however, is a combination of bulk fluid motion and elastic acoustic waves.)

 

[Verig]

That 50Hz looks pretty hard hitting. How about just lowering your sub level? You'll know pretty quicly if it's about that.

 

[kirankasa]

How about just lowering your sub level?

Will try that. As of now level is set by Audyssey, i didn't even increase it as we generally do after Audyssey calibration.

 

[antcollinet]

I also have the 3800 in a similar sized room (maybe 1.5ft wider). 5.1.4 setup.

Using @OCA's Audessey one script to set up the EQ On the AVR made all the difference for me. You'd need to invest in the £$20 Audessy phone app if you haven't already. And a little time in the learning curve.

 

[kirankasa]

Using @OCA's Audessey one script to set up the EQ On the AVR made all the difference for me

Even i am using Audyssey Evo by @OCA . Are you using any absorption panels ?

My room has bare walls, i heard that even reflections in small rooms would cause ear fatigue and headache.

 

[antcollinet]

Even i am using Audyssey Evo by @OCA . Are you using any absorption panels ?

My room has bare walls, i heard that even reflections in small rooms would cause ear fatigue and headache.

No panels and glass on both sides.

What target curve are you using with A1? The default for me was too bright. I substituted a harmon curve. (I note your curves don't have much of a downward slope on them)

 

[kirankasa]

What target curve are you using with A1? The default for me was too bright.

i am using the default 'TargetCurve_MJ'. Will try harmon curve in other preset.

 

[ExPerfectionist]

Are you getting a headache during movie/TV content? Or music? Or both? If it's the former, sometimes the center channel and irregularities, boominess, resonances from the center channel placement and EQ can be grating and headache-inducing. You might try changing the XO for center channel to 100Hz or higher (you currently have a big valley centered around 100Hz), and make sure the center channel is titled and aimed at your ear level so you have clearest sound.

Your room seems pretty echoey as well. Here are some basic tips:

• If hardwood floors, place a thick rug with rug mat under it to catch floor bounce.
• Speakers at least 2 feet, preferably 3-4 feet from walls
• Couch/seating not pressed against back wall, preferably 2-3' from wall (closer to wall is more boomy and echoey)
• Furniture like seating, bookshelves, etc. along side walls and back wall, something to absorb and/or break up side reflections.

 

[antcollinet]

i am using the default 'TargetCurve_MJ'. Will try harmon curve in other preset.

Here is the curve I've used.

 

[kirankasa]

Are you getting a headache during movie/TV content? Or music? Or both?

Both, i noticed it more while watching movies. As of now centre channel XO is at 90, tried 100 as well i didn't find any change in frequency response. I have centre channel on the top of TV cabinet, tilted a bit with door stoppers towards my MLP. Should i add any foam and place centre channel on top of it? There is two feet gap behind centre channel but it's sitting next to my AVR.

Speakers at least 2 feet, preferably 3-4 feet from walls

As of now there are 2 feet from front wall, Is symmetry important ? Is yes i can then shift my setup to a different wall.
And I am sitting 3 feet from back wall.
I did add a rug and 4 panels(2 inch) on the ceiling.

Other than a single recliner there is no other furniture in the room. Awaiting for second recliner delivery.
I can add more panels but read somewhere that panels will only help in mid and higher frequencies and it will cause RT60 uniformity issues.

 

[raindance]

Speakers should be closer to the walls. 3-4 feet is too far and will cause SBIR problems.

Changing the crossover frequency by 10Hz won't do anything useful.

Square rooms are very hard to get right. What is bothering you about the sound? High frequencies? Mid frequencies? Bass? Listening too loud?

Where is your listening position?

 

[raindance]

I can add more panels but read somewhere that panels will only help in mid and higher frequencies and it will cause RT60 uniformity issues.

I get flamed for this every time, but RT60 is unimportant in small rooms.

 

[kirankasa]

What is bothering you about the sound? High frequencies? Mid frequencies? Bass? Listening too loud?

Listening for more than an hour at 75 db.

I had my speakers 2 feet from front wall, then read about SBIR and moved them closer to wall, hoping Audyssey will correct those peaks. Now i feel bass is too much.
My listening position is 7 feet from front wall.

 

[Deleted member 49933]

Hi All, I am trying to setup a home theatre in small room.

Gear :
AVR 3800h
LCR: QA concept 40 and centre
Surrounds SL,SR: 3020i
Sub: SVS SB 1000 pro

Even though sound is enjoyable for sometime, it's causing headache even when i am listening at 70-75 db range .
Room has carpet and 4 panels on the ceiling.
I am attaching my left and right speaker frequency response, please check and let me know the problem areas and if possible any solution to fix those as well.
Thanks

I have the same room as you, but also with descending ceiling, so total volume is even less.
My experience is that 3 front speakers are simply too many in a small room and cause abnormal summing of correlated sounds and phase, even at 20dB below reference (~65dB).
So, I experimented by playing only the center channel, with everything else disconnected, and ear fatigue never set in even at reference level (~85dB).
Of course, I lose a lot of sounds (and director's intent), but I'm actually preferring this mono setup now, because there's a lot less music during action scenes or sound positioning, which always took me out of the movie.
Actually, I find The Matrix lobby scene more realistic in mono, since there's no music at all in the centre channel, and I can actually hear things that I could not in surround.