Room comes alive only with high listening levels, need speaker change?

Hi I_B at low volumes close-miked singer/piano sounds good. Anything with more complexity eg Rock, Jazz needs more ooomph.

Nice isn’t it. Wife been asking for it back for years, was a present a friend of ours gave to her to make a coffee table- she plans on getting a glass surface put on it. Only problem is that I cant find a suitable low center speaker stand for that huge Proac. If anyone has any suggestions my wife would be eternally grateful!

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That bottle’s an empty Sassicaia, behind it is a another magnum Sassicaia that a friend bought for dinner once. Needless to say he’s on my “invites” list!
BTW drinks cabinet is behind the right pannel :smile:

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I’ll try this out with a mono recording tomorrow, thanks guys.

Hi Garyi, 57 going on 58. Agree with you I will definitely continue to turn it up when I need to :metal:, I couldn’t imagine listening to Tool at low volume levels but I would prefer not having to do it all the time obviously.

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Hi Opus, my room measures about 13 x 19 feet I’m not too far off your speaker placements, just a bit closer to rear and side walls. I’ll shift them this week and give then a try at your position.
thanks

Interesting speaker suggestions Martin, never heard of them, will keep them in mind.

Hi Mulberry, rack is the same, wouldn’t have a clue about the mains quality to be honest.

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Really hope not about the headphones Mike, I like my music to be a physical/visceral experience as well as auditory obviously. This is probably what I’m still missing in the bass, a bit of that physical resonance in my body.

Thanks nice to know, amp change is something I would consider.

Hi Hans, I have 12" SVS sub working with my AV setup and it certainly brings something to the party. Listening to Steven Wilson’s new album in surround is a wonderful experience and the extra bass brought in by the sub is definitely a huge improvement.
I’ve avoided sub intergration with my stereo gear because the 282 doesn’t have line-out possibilies and I’ve been put off by reports of how difficult bass integration can be. Maybe change of speakers with larger woofers might be a possibility and give similar benefits?
If nothing works I may need to resort to Sound Optimisation or the D&D 8c type suggestions.

Ah, The Future Bites, yes, that will test the bass response. Now, I think with what you have said, integrating a sub into the hi-fi system may well be the way to go. Can you swap it over for a test to see what effect it would have?

My music room is a little smaller than yours and I use a single sub - works great.

I think what you are describing here, the physical visceral feeling, is not possible without having high volume in the room, so headphones will not do it either.
But whatever, human hearing does not have a flat frequency response at different volumes, so as far as we humans are concerned, low volume has no bass.
Headphones at higher volumes will give your ears the bass, the umph and to some extent the physical feeling, albeit only in your head.

… and might destroy your hearing. Headphones at high volume can be a very harmful thing.

I just wonder if you should slowly and incrementally lower your normal listening volume. You might find the music gradually reveals itself in a more satisfying way.

Their is some science to this. A small muscle in your ear adjusts the sensitivity of the eardrum when exposed to loud noises to protect your hearing. If you put on headphones at a specific volume that is medium/high and after a few minutes turn it down gradually you can easily demonstrate this. The subjective loudness will actually return down the volume scale and you may also notice more quality too. Obviously as the volume gets a lot lower this effect is lost. The flip side if you want to listen loud you may find during a listening session that you seem to creep up the volume as time goes on.

Google ‘stapedius’ .

Bruce

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No different from speakers playing loud enough to produce the same sound level at your ears! Just that with headphones there is no possibly moderating fear of disturbing neighbours or people in other rooms.

Don’t agree. I think that subjectively high volumes are easier to tolerate (and for longer) via headphones and there are specific risks using them this way. Of course it is the dB level that counts and there is no difference between decibels via either route but I think there is a tendency for people to appreciate the level they are being exposed to differently when wearing 'phones. Nobody telling you to turn it down either!

Bruce

To the OP, have you ever heard a hifi system that gives you that engagement with the ssmd music at lower levels? If yes, then the arguments about reducing ear sensitivity to bass at lower levels are irrelevant. If no, then go to some dealers and hear some other systems to find out if anything dies if for you, or if you simply crave rock music levels…

From my experience speakers can make a huge difference: if you do go and listen, try full scale transmission lines, such as the bigger PMCs (twenty or twentyfive-26, SE series, Fact 12, or older EB1i).

Otherwise this may be a classic case of where an effective “loudness” compensation is needed, proportionately boosting the bass and treble as volume is lowered, calibrated to the specific listening situation (not the crude on-off type common on cheap amps years ago). This is something I have argued for, but AFAIK no hifi manufacturer does.

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My RME DAC works like this. You can set the max levels it boosts by or leave it at their recommended levels and it adjusts based on the volume level your using. You can tweak the volume level where it cuts of to. I use it for headphone listening and it works very very well but it will also work for the preamp out as well via line or AES.

Hi Spugun,

The Supecap powering your 282 should have three line outputs. You just need the correct cable. I think the reson many people have problems integrating a sub into a 2-channel set-up is that they are asking to much from it. If it isn’t integrating well, turn down the cut-off frequency and/or the volume. I have my cut-off frequencies set at 45 Hz currently and have generally had settings in the 35-50 Hz region. There is generally a lot of bass energy even above the cut-off frequency.

Hans

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Hi spud … Get a REL sub. S/510 is all you need. You will be very happy, I have one !