Improving my speaker bass performance

[aloke]

Hi,
My current set up is Roon on Mac mini playing to Poly/Mojo into Schist Vidar amp to B&W 802S speakers. The room where its ay 15' x 25' x 9' with the wall between the speakers with glass doors all the way across with heavy curtains. Listening position is about 15' from the speakers. With the speakers 3' from the back wall and 2' from side wall the bass is distinctly low. Sound in the midst of and highs is clear. Moving the speakers back to about 1' from the rear wall improves the bass response. Adding eq either in Roon or in the Mojo helps but still short of what I would like. Will REW help to generate a convolution filter I can load into Roon?

 

[morerajendra5678]

Hi,
My current set up is Roon on Mac mini playing to Poly/Mojo into Schist Vidar amp to B&W 802S speakers. The room where its ay 15' x 25' x 9' with the wall between the speakers with glass doors all the way across with heavy curtains. Listening position is about 15' from the speakers. With the speakers 3' from the back wall and 2' from side wall the bass is distinctly low. Sound in the midst of and highs is clear. Moving the speakers back to about 1' from the rear wall improves the bass response. Adding eq either in Roon or in the Mojo helps but still short of what I would like. Will REW help to generate a convolution filter I can load into Roon?

You can take DIRAC package and check whether you are getting any noticeable benefit from it. If not you can cancel its subscription for a full refund.
When playing around with Equalizer, try to have substraction equalization i.e. you cut all frequencies except the ones you want to be boosted. This approach is found to be more effective.
Finally if you are not adverse with pro-audio tools, DBX DiveRack PA2 parametric Equalizer is really effective. In my system I use DBX and have a tube Pre-amplifier after it in the chain which helps in adapting it in my all tube gear chain and bass is also very well defined.

 

[kapvin]

Hi,
My current set up is Roon on Mac mini playing to Poly/Mojo into Schist Vidar amp to B&W 802S speakers. The room where its ay 15' x 25' x 9' with the wall between the speakers with glass doors all the way across with heavy curtains. Listening position is about 15' from the speakers. With the speakers 3' from the back wall and 2' from side wall the bass is distinctly low. Sound in the midst of and highs is clear. Moving the speakers back to about 1' from the rear wall improves the bass response. Adding eq either in Roon or in the Mojo helps but still short of what I would like. Will REW help to generate a convolution filter I can load into Roon?

Yes it would, especially if you know what you are doing. You would need a mic and an audio interface, of course. Or you could do the Dirac, thingy, same hardware requirements, though.

I would not characterise b&Ws as bass shy if working well and I assume you checked all that before posting. You may want to check your amp works well with the speakers, b&w presents sometime pretty complex loads to the amp, and I tend to have a jaundiced view of all things schitt. So see if another amp helps.

More quick and dirty, while your description did not say so, I assume that your speakers fire Into the length of the room. Based on the room dimensions, it’s highly likely your listening position is at a bass null. Try moving your listening position back as little and see if it helps.

also, does the room open into a corridor, especially along the length of the room?

 

[prateekatasniya]

Hi,
My current set up is Roon on Mac mini playing to Poly/Mojo into Schist Vidar amp to B&W 802S speakers. The room where its ay 15' x 25' x 9' with the wall between the speakers with glass doors all the way across with heavy curtains. Listening position is about 15' from the speakers. With the speakers 3' from the back wall and 2' from side wall the bass is distinctly low. Sound in the midst of and highs is clear. Moving the speakers back to about 1' from the rear wall improves the bass response. Adding eq either in Roon or in the Mojo helps but still short of what I would like. Will REW help to generate a convolution filter I can load into Roon?

This is a huge room to fill..
Moving the speakers close to the front wall was a right choice..
Then check for you seating placement, you might be sitting in a null zone.

Once this is checked, then did you try tone control ?

After these fundamentals comes the time to eq the system...
What's your preferred listening level ?

Regards
Dr Prateek

 

[oldmonk]

I would try a more powerful amplifier with a high quality high current power delivery

Ideally approx a 200W x 8 ohm with a 2 ohm capability

 

[hydra]

That's a very nice room, with all of the dimensions very close to the golden ratio! The speaker position and the listening position seems well-setup. I suspect that the issue is amplification. If you can borrow something with better drive to try with your speakers, you will be able to get closer to an answer.

 

[Kannan]

if possible, I would start from putting the speakers agains the longer wall (meaning the back wall being 25 feet long) and the speakers in the center of the room, and have the speakers about 6 to 7 feet apart and pulled out by a foot or foot-and-half from the back wall (aauming these are rear ported). This would remove the room out of the equation to a good extent. Then play with the speaker postion to the back wall to get the optimum bass. Your seating should be about 7 to 8 feet from the back wall (ie the wall behind the speakers).

 

[sandeepmohan]

Its hard to understand why your loudspeaker are unable to build up sufficient bass in your room. Its got a dual 6.5" bass driver per speaker. Is this a recent change in sound that you've noticed? If Yes, can you inspect the drivers and ensure they are working well. These have age going against them.

I doubt if the amplifier is the culprit. The Vidar has some serious power on it.

 

[rwnano]

Hi,
My current set up is Roon on Mac mini playing to Poly/Mojo into Schist Vidar amp to B&W 802S speakers. The room where its ay 15' x 25' x 9' with the wall between the speakers with glass doors all the way across with heavy curtains. Listening position is about 15' from the speakers. With the speakers 3' from the back wall and 2' from side wall the bass is distinctly low. Sound in the midst of and highs is clear. Moving the speakers back to about 1' from the rear wall improves the bass response. Adding eq either in Roon or in the Mojo helps but still short of what I would like. Will REW help to generate a convolution filter I can load into Roon?

Op, please buy a subwoofer or a pair of subwoofer and integrate it well with your speakers. That will make the difference! Please

 

[rwnano]

In my experience and I have Irving M Bud Fried Signature A6 transmission line speakers with 8 inch mid woofer - they go down to 35 Hz.
Amplifier harman kardon AVR amplifier 3550 with 65 watts true RMS per channel and 28 amperes high impulse current capacity.

Transmission line speakers have deeper bass and tight bass.
But I still feel that it's better with a subwoofer than without.