I've had similar problems, but have worked them out. You have to be able to move the speakers out from the back wall a little, and also you need at least 16 inch ASC Tubetraps in the corners behind the speakers. First, you need the Sheffield "My Disc" CD, with third octave pink noise tracks in the bass range (and rest of the range). Also, you MUST have a continuously variable phase control on your subwoofer. If you don't, you'll never get it dialed in for all types of music. You also need to experiment with the sub's placement, and how you aim it once you get it there. IF YOUR WIFE WON'T LET YOU DO ANY OF THIS, then either move to a dedicated room, listen with headphones, or get her hypnotized. Audio Systems that fit into the decor of any room aren't worth listening to, because you're compromising physics for good aesthetics. You need to decide how much you like listening, and how badly you really want to improve your system's sound. NOT EASY NEWS TO HEAR, BUT IT'S THE TRUTH NONETHELESS...Good luck.
Bass Control with Traps
I have what I believe to be pretty serious standing waves and/or room resonance at fairly limited frequency range. Certain cds or songs will excite(I guess) the bass range of 60-90hz(my best estimate). The bass on these selections is incredibly muddy, boomy and hangs around. This only has been a problem since I moved from Totem Mite-t to Totem Mani-2s. I have estimated the freq problem range based on the fact that the Totem Mite-t began to roll off the bass at about 90-100 hz and I did not have the problem(or at least it was significanly less pronounce and rare).On the subwoofer I had matched up with the Mite-ts, I set the low pass around 100 hz and, on the infrequent occassions when the bass would get too dominant/boomy, I could compensate by turning down the sub. With the Mani 2's, I can't make that adjustment. On most songs, even those that appear to have significant low bass, I don't have the problem;the bass sounds hefty but tight and tonally balanced. But on certain cuts(too many to ignore), the bass guitar or organ just sounds terrible,mushy, overwhelming. My listening room unfortunately has 8 foot ceilings and, at least for the first two feet at the speaker end, is 16 feet wide. The room, fortunately, farther back becomes assymetrical and opens into different alcoves and rooms(the family room,kitchen, eating area arrangement). The annoying bass pressure clearly is more dominant in the right corner(room configuration). I am limited in how much I can vary my speaker location and I have experimented with this limited placement, and I believe I have the best location for woofer placement(4 feet from side walls--8 feet between speakers-- and 3 feet from rear walls and about 2 1/2 feet from floor). What can I expect from the traps or buster? Would a pair of cube traps be as effective as a pair of bass busters? Because of asthetics(translation:wife), I would not be able to go with a tube trap or the cube tower trap(6 1/2 feet high). I may be able to do some form of in wall treatment, if this may help, but prefer something less pemanent. I have had different and conflicting advice and suggestions in my brief discussions with the folks at asc and echobuster(although both outfits seemed knowledgeabl). Would either of the products more precisley target my problem freq range? I would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks Gary