Which speaker to choose? Hifi-Speakers vs Studio-Monitors (Infinity R162 vs JBL LSR 308P) Frequency response close to wall questions

[Ralferator]

Hi,

i am still searching for a pair of speakers for the living room and want to discuss about if a pair of Hifi-Speakers would fit better or a pair of Studio monitors would fit better.
Since i don't plan using an EQ (most music will be played with Bluetooth, no connection to a computer) i wonder which kind of speaker would better fit from it's frequency response. I would have to place the speakers relatively close to the wall (the front of the speaker would be about 55-60 cm from the wall, so the back of the speakers would be about 30 cm off the wall.

I am thinking about the Infinity R162 or the JBL LSR308P, which have both been tested here, but both have a very different frequency response in the bass region, so i wonder which would fit better.

I am wondering if the more flat response of the JBL LSR308P down to almost 40hz would be overpowering the low bass if the speaker stands so close to the wall. I could use the low frequency trim but would i then also loose too much upper bass? Or could it work out nice?

Would the Infinity sound nicer, warmer, because it has a slight upper bass peak? And would they fit the placement better because of the frequency response slowly falling below 100 hz? Would that fit better to the speaker standing close to the wall and give me a better, tighter low end but still deep and powerful?

I also read somewhere that with a speaker placement like i plan it there is usually a dip around 100 hz in the frequency response. If that's true, do you think the Infinities would fit better, because of their slight peak at 100 hz? I was even wondering if that is one reason why a lot of Hifi speakers have a slight peak at around 100 hz.

I then found this website to calculate the estimated frequency response and it also looks like i would get a dip around 100hz: https://www.hunecke.de/de/rechner/lautsprecher.html

Should i move the speakers even closer to the wall? Or does it make things worse?

What are your thoughts about it? Thank you sooo much in advance!

 

[outlookrt]

I would personally try pushing them even closer to the wall and then use EQ to bring the bass output down (if needed).
Should result in a smoother bass response with less dips.
Studio monitors on-board bass trim might do the job.
I found Genelecs speaker placement guide to be helpful.
https://www.genelec.com/monitor-placement

 

[BillG]

If you can't EQ the bass down at the source then you'll need something that can EQ at the speaker. Studio monitors such as the JBL will accommodate this and the Infinity's won't - I write that as someone who owns the 162's and loves them.

While I do have my 162's backed up very close to the wall (~5 inches) I've also EQed the bass down by -3dB to -6dB (depending upon my mood) at the source which is usually my PC. If I'm streaming then I just use the Tone controls on a Chromecast Audio to accomplish the same.

By the way, depending upon which music player app you're running on your phone even Bluetooth can be EQed as well. I occasionally do so using Poweramp on Android devices.

All the best!

 

[Ralferator]

If you can't EQ the bass down at the source then you'll need something that can EQ at the speaker. Studio monitors such as the JBL will accommodate this and the Infinity's won't - I write that as someone who owns the 162's and loves them.

While I do have my 162's backed up very close to the wall (~5 inches) I've also EQed the bass down by -3dB to -6dB (depending upon my mood) at the source which is usually my PC. If I'm streaming then I just use the Tone controls on a Chromecast Audio to accomplish the same.

By the way, depending upon which music player app you're running on your phone even Bluetooth can be EQed as well. I occasionally do so using Poweramp on Android devices.

All the best!

Thank you for your feedback. Can you say which frequencies get too loud when you don't EQ them down? Is it more the upper bass around 100-120 hz or rather the lower bass? I have an iphone and it has a "less bass" setting. Since i am using a radio app too sometines it would be nice to have an EQ that works for all music sources on the iphone but i don't know if something like that exists. I wonder why the Iphone itself doesn't have a nice EQ.

I was also wondering about if the JBLs might be even more of a trouble because the Bass doesn't fall below 100hz but only below 50hz. Also i don't know which frequencies get lowered with the JBL's low frequency trim.

 

[BillG]

Boundary Gain Compensation on studio monitors typically starts at 180Hz to continues down to whatever the lowest frequency the speaker can reproduce. I just setup an EQ with a low shelf filter that begins to slope down by - 3dB to - 6dB at 180Hz based upon that on my PC.

Had I performed room measurements I could have been more precise but a number of studio monitors I've looked at use the same EQ strategy and I went with that. These studio monitor manufacturers have much more experience with this than I do. I figured I'd be safe following their ideas.

 

[Ralferator]

Boundary Gain Compensation on studio monitors typically starts at 180Hz to continues down to whatever the lowest frequency the speaker can reproduce. I just setup an EQ with a low shelf filter that begins to slope down by - 3dB to - 6dB at 180Hz based upon that on my PC.

Had I performed room measurements I could have been more precise but a number of studio monitors I've looked at use the same EQ strategy and I went with that. These studio monitor manufacturers have much more experience with this than I do. I figured I'd be safe following their ideas.

Thank you. So then i guess i could have good results either using the Infinity R162 or the JBL LSR308P.
I am still wondering about their different Bass frequency response though. It might be that the slight bass peak of the R162 at around 100hz could fill in a dip that the boundary effect produces. Also it might let the Bass sound more punchy. But i guess i would only really know if i try both speakers in the room, which won't be possible sadly.