Freq response of my Front towers (Not expected)

[Deblin]

Hi All,
I have AudioVector QR series 5.1.4 setup. Initially I had the QR1(bookshelves) as my fronts. I really enjoyed them. Then I expanded and purchased their tower(QR3) last year and moved my QR1 to surrounds. But for some reason I never really enjoyed the towers as much as the bookshelves one. I couldn't find the exact reason, but it always sort of felt that the vocals are suppressed. I didnt have any measuring tool.

Recently I changed my AVR to ANTHEM MRX 740. It has a very good room calibration system in ARC genesis with professional grade mike and tripod for calibration. It also shows detailed frequency response for each speakers. When I got the result, I was very surprised to see that my front left and right towers are rolling off steeply from 2.5KHz. As per manual it should have more or less flat response till at least 20K Hz. All other speakers have decent response till 20K Hz. I took multiple measurement in various location in my room but still the freq response does not change much. It rolls off steeply quite early.

Wanted to know from the experts here whether I am making any mistakes or there is an issue with the speakers. When I ran test tone(from 20-20K hz) there was a difference in sound signature in higher frequency. I am attaching my calibration report for reference. Please look at front left and front right in comparison with other speakers.( I have tweaked some setting in ARC genesis to get desired response but cant deal with my front LR).

What should be my course of action now?

Thanks a lot for your time and response.

 

[alpha1]

Front left and right tweeters are not working - claim warranty if you have the means.
Your speakers, QR3, if I got that right, have the crossover frequency of 3000 Hz.
The graphs show that there is a rolloff after 2000 Hz or so which is just prior to the crossover frequency - at this transition point the midwoofers are supposed to perform less and tweeters are supposed to take over the duties of sound reproduction. In your case they are not working.

By the way, your speakers have lovely bass response, you don't really need a subwoofer

 

[ajuvignesh]

Did you check the jumpers connecting both the pair of binding posts at the rear of the speaker? Looks like the tweeter isn't getting any signal.

 

[Deblin]

Front left and right tweeters are not working - claim warranty if you have the means.
Your speakers, QR3, if I got that right, have the crossover frequency of 3000 Hz.
The graphs show that there is a rolloff after 2000 Hz or so which is just prior to the crossover frequency - at this transition point the midwoofers are supposed to perform less and tweeters are supposed to take over the duties of sound reproduction. In your case they are not working.

By the way, your speakers have lovely bass response, you don't really need a subwoofer

Thanks. I usually listen to music without woofers but use my sub woofer for movies. I will claim warranty if that possible. The issue is there is only one authorized dealer of Audio vector in India and they are based out of Chennai. It is a hassle to send those speakers there and again bring them back.

 

[Deblin]

Thanks. I usually listen to music without woofers but use my sub woofer for movies. I will claim warranty if that possible. The issue is there is only one authorized dealer of Audio vector in India and they are based out of Chennai. It is a hassle to send those speakers there and again bring them back.

Any idea whether dealer honour warranty and replace faulty parts on site. Anyway, I will reach out to them. I purchased from a different dealer based out of kolkata

 

[Deblin]

Did you check the jumpers connecting both the pair of binding posts at the rear of the speaker? Looks like the tweeter isn't getting any signal.

Thanks for your reply. They are connected. Anything particular to check there?

 

[aeroash]

Do not worry about the binding posts, as your speakers have only one pair per speaker (at least that's what Google regurgitated).
To check if the problem is really with your tower's tweeters, connect your mains to the centre channel of the AVR binding posts, one speaker at a time. Play something and report back.

 

[Deblin]

Do not worry about the binding posts, as your speakers have only one pair per speaker (at least that's what Google regurgitated).
To check if the problem is really with your tower's tweeters, connect your mains to the centre channel of the AVR binding posts, one speaker at a time. Play something and report back.

Will do that and report back. Thanks

 

[ajuvignesh]

Thanks for your reply. They are connected. Anything particular to check there?

My bad. Your towers only has a single pair of binding posts and not two. Ignore my previous comment.

 

[bornfi]

I would recommend doing this check running the processor in DIrect Mode or Pure Stereo or whatever it is known as in Anthem world. The chances are very low that both the tweeters aren't working. What if your processor's processing is preventing that frequency range from getting routed to towers?

 

[MaSh]

Hi All,
I have AudioVector QR series 5.1.4 setup. Initially I had the QR1(bookshelves) as my fronts. I really enjoyed them. Then I expanded and purchased their tower(QR3) last year and moved my QR1 to surrounds. But for some reason I never really enjoyed the towers as much as the bookshelves one. I couldn't find the exact reason, but it always sort of felt that the vocals are suppressed. I didnt have any measuring tool.

Recently I changed my AVR to ANTHEM MRX 740. It has a very good room calibration system in ARC genesis with professional grade mike and tripod for calibration. It also shows detailed frequency response for each speakers. When I got the result, I was very surprised to see that my front left and right towers are rolling off steeply from 2.5KHz. As per manual it should have more or less flat response till at least 20K Hz. All other speakers have decent response till 20K Hz. I took multiple measurement in various location in my room but still the freq response does not change much. It rolls off steeply quite early.

Wanted to know from the experts here whether I am making any mistakes or there is an issue with the speakers. When I ran test tone(from 20-20K hz) there was a difference in sound signature in higher frequency. I am attaching my calibration report for reference. Please look at front left and front right in comparison with other speakers.( I have tweaked some setting in ARC genesis to get desired response but cant deal with my front LR).

What should be my course of action now?

Thanks a lot for your time and response.

How old are the speakers. As mentioned in the posts above, your speaker's tweeters are blown and need to be repaired. Whats surprising is that both have blown. Usually its one of them. Just try connecting your speakers to another channel of the receiver or if you have another amp just to confirm.

Reach out to the manufacturer and request for replacement tweeters. They are not that difficult to swap. There is no need to send the whole speaker to them and then get back. More chances of them getting damaged in transit.

MaSh

 

[Deblin]

How old are the speakers. As mentioned in the posts above, your speaker's tweeters are blown and need to be repaired. Whats surprising is that both have blown. Usually its one of them. Just try connecting your speakers to another channel of the receiver or if you have another amp just to confirm.

Reach out to the manufacturer and request for replacement tweeters. They are not that difficult to swap. There is no need to send the whole speaker to them and then get back. More chances of them getting damaged in transit.

MaSh

My speakers are not even a year old. From the very beginning it didn’t sound as good as my bookshelves. I thought may be I need to burn in. Right now, there is difference but not outright difference. The vocals still feels suppressed a bit. I am not sure how a speaker with blown out tweeters should sound. Should it be absolutely obvious? That is not the case though here.

 

[MaSh]

My speakers are not even a year old. From the very beginning it didn’t sound as good as my bookshelves. I thought may be I need to burn in. Right now, there is difference but not outright difference. The vocals still feels suppressed a bit. I am not sure how a speaker with blown out tweeters should sound. Should it be absolutely obvious? That is not the case though here.

A speaker with blown tweeters will sound dull. No highs at all, poor imaging. Listen to Radha Kaise na Jale. First 1 minute will make it clear.

MaSh

 

[Hari Iyer]

Simple - just play some well recorded music and put your ears against the tweeter cone and confirm if you get any sound.

 

[alpha1]

I would recommend doing this check running the processor in DIrect Mode or Pure Stereo or whatever it is known as in Anthem world. The chances are very low that both the tweeters aren't working. What if your processor's processing is preventing that frequency range from getting routed to towers?

Actually this is a possibility that I hadn't considered.
Perhaps the AVR is doctoring the signal being sent to the front left and right speakers.

But the room calibration program will do a full signal sweep, which means the AVR's shouldn't interfere with processing ...

@Deblin, how are you running the room calibration measurement process? Where does the sine sweep signal originate, what is the chain it follows to get reproduced from your speakers?

 

[Deblin]

Actually this is a possibility that I hadn't considered.
Perhaps the AVR is doctoring the signal being sent to the front left and right speakers.

But the room calibration program will do a full signal sweep, which means the AVR's shouldn't interfere with processing ...

@Deblin, how are you running the room calibration measurement process? Where does the sine sweep signal originate, what is the chain it follows to get reproduced from your speakers?

I doubt AVR will limit high frequency signal. I am running ARC genesis. Its an app that runs in my PC. Its connected to my AVR through local area network. The mike is connected to my PC via USB. Mike is not connected to AVR. The speakers are all connected as usual directly to the AVR. There is no Power amplifier as of now. When I am running the calibration, all the speakers are going through the same sweep process. This is the normal process that ARC genesis goes through. Nothing different.

 

[Deblin]

I doubt AVR will limit high frequency signal. I am running ARC genesis. Its an app that runs in my PC. Its connected to my AVR through local area network. The mike is connected to my PC via USB. Mike is not connected to AVR. The speakers are all connected as usual directly to the AVR. There is no Power amplifier as of now. When I am running the calibration, all the speakers are going through the same sweep process. This is the normal process that ARC genesis goes through. Nothing different.

When the frequency sweep runs, the software shows frequency response along with all other relevant data through the PC (Data collected through connected mike).

 

[ketansethi1987]

Same thing happened with new Polk audio floorstanding speakers. The tweeters were faulty and we got the tweeters replaced. Put your ears next right next to the tweeters and see if you hear the treble or not.

 

[sreejithsreedharan]

Just a suggestion- why can’t you connect back your qr1 to front LR and see if it makes any difference.

 

[Deblin]

Just a suggestion- why can’t you connect back your qr1 to front LR and see if it makes any difference.

I just swapped my front left and right with center channel (one at a time). Sound is coming from the tweeter of center channel but not from my towers, even after swapping. I also swapped with the bookshelves. Same thing. It confirms that no sound is coming from tweeters. It may be a tweeter issue or crossover issue