The more you move up the ladder, the more sensitive a system becomes for these kind of problems. It took me 3 months to get my active system sound right.
Yes, I assume sn3 pre was not transparent enough to show this. I did A-B-A back then, and was pretty sure it was better with this Iso Plug plugged in. How strangeā¦
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I would try a heavy synthetic carpet between speakers , towards the listening position, cover the tv when listening to music, and put isolation devices under the speakers. like Isoacoustics Gaia or Townsend devices.
Thereās no absorbing materials in this room.
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I agree, maybe @i2448 also needs some absorption panels behind the speakers, that could make a big difference IME.
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Realistically, there is nothing I can do among what you advised. Thick carpeting is not possible due to my sensitive skin. Covering TV every time I listen to music is too much of hassle for me. I do have Isoacoustics Gaias installed to my Focal kanta 3s though. I am looking at more furniture and absorption wall behind speakers. Do you think these would help?
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They may well be worth a try, though I am not sure that reflections from behind will be your top āreal room not ideal roomā issue here.
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I donāt have a magic answer unluckily, however I think they could potentially help you.
The reason I say that itās because of what I experienced in my room. I have a similar situation to yours, my walls are highly reflective despite not being covered in marble. That made the listening experience quite unbearable, it ruined all my efforts so I had to do something.
In the first place I bought panels that allowed both absorption and diffusion, I placed them up behind the speakers and also behind my listening position. That made already a great difference especially in highs clarity and bass punch, but it wasnāt enough as the soundstage kept being a touch confused and vague.
*Picture from Astri Audio
Then I added wide spectrum absorbers behind the speakers and everything evolved as I hoped. Mind you, I had to do some tweaking but thatās another story.
I would also report that when I changed my interconnects, some resonances disappeared and the listening experience got much better (less fatiguing as well).
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Do you mean tiled floor in front of speakers are more critical?
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Yes, normally. If you choose absorbing panels.
Here an example. The panels with some design on walls. Absorbing sound panels by GIK.
But other designs exist of course.
From GIK site.
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That was my first thought, though others who know a lot more than me have written at length on this complicated subject elsewhere.
If overly fierce treble is a key area youād like to improve, Iād try putting (say) some coats and jumpers on the floor so that a reflection hitting the floor from the tweeter (and bouncing off at the same angle) and then reaching your ear in a normal listening position actually hits the coats. Now play something fierce and trebly a bit louder than you otherwise might with and without the coats.
Has it made any difference at all? If it has, that suggests that finding a domestically acceptable way to break up those reflections would be worthwhile.
If not, try putting things against the wall behind the speakers.
If an afternoon spent playing the same couple of songs several times with some clothes (with perhaps a couple of brooms or an indoor drying rack) in various places makes no difference at all to what you hear, then that would suggest that my suspicions about reflections and a need for room treatment were complete rubbish and a waste of your time -sorry. If there is some improvement, then you may be able to get better overall enjoyment without having to change any more boxes.
Good luck!
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Thank you for sharing your experience. I will definitely look into those room treatment stuff. After pulling out IsoPlug from the power strip, most of awkwardness is gone and it is still enjoyable to listen to now. But I still miss the warm sound signature that my system used to have at my old apartment that was wooden floored.
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Thank you for the information. I will look into those.
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Thank you. Thatās a great idea to have clothing to be placed and tested. Never thought about trying that. I will try tomorrow and report!
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Welcome, hope it helps. Surely wooden floor was better! By the way I suggest you to take small steps, donāt rush into spending money. Effective room treatments donāt necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg.
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Of course. I have extra cables to fiddle around too. Will take time and try one by one. Thank you for your sincere advice!
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Looking at your room, something tells me you may find this amusing.
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You can return and be refunded with GIK, but the shipping is for you.
LoL it sure is amusing.