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Speakers for aging audiophiles - What's with today bass emphasis ?

I'd love to pick your brains on a issue and possibly a suggestion
My system has 2 sources, a Logitech transporter and Thorens 126 MKIII / SME / Supex.  Ampli recently changed to a Musical Fidelity M6si. My listening is 80% streaming and 20% vinyl. It's mostly classic and prog rock but also acoustic jazz and classic chamber music.
I have an issue with my current speakers setup: Dynaudio BM6 passive.
I have been using those for some months now and find that while they are satisfying in terms of scene, detail, resolution they are exceedingly strong in the bass (say 50 to 200 Hz) and not adequately balanced in the middle / treble, say from 1k Hz up. It seems as though the bass player stand in front with a big amplifier and everyone else is back in the stage.
I have changed the amplifier to the Musical Fidelity but while I am happy with that I did not see much change in respect to the issue I am describing.

I relate this issue to 2 causes:

1. Today's recordings emphasizes the bass unrealistically. Let me just give you an example. I recently bought Steve Wilson remix of Marillion "Misplaced Childhood". Great work. The mix is shining but compared to the old vinyl I have got you get this feeling of too much bass. Bass quality is great, well defined, solid, no complain but just too much of a good thing.

2. I am ageing, over 60 now. It is well know that as you age your sensitivity to the high frequencies falls down

Given those factors I'd like to change speakers to get something that:
- Is very open on the highs
- It's very analytical
- Does not over emphasize basses
- Bookshelf
- Ballpark cost 2 - 2.5 K

Can anyone make suggestions ? I was inclined to the Harbeths M30 but read several blogs where they say they do emphasize the bass. Maybe Dynaudio Special or Focus  ? How about Totem Sky ?

I don't mind spending a few more bucks to get what I want / need.

Thanks a lot everyone.

Mark.
marklings

Showing 9 responses by marklings

marklings OP
61 posts
 
Room is not small some 300+sqft
Distance form the wall maybe 10  " but I cannot move them further
Interesting suggestion about the sealed monitors, I'll certainly have a look at those
Finally, I disagree with one of the first comments that today's mixes are not bass heavy. They most definitely are IMHO. Any comparison I can make on new mixes / new mastering of old stuff shows that.
Thanks all for the contribution.
marklings OP
61 posts
 
Also tx for the isolation / stuffing suggestion. I'll most definitely try those.
marklings OP
61 posts
 
I have looked at those small boxes and I do like them. Couple of issues though:
- Will it not lower dynamics ? It's one more box, one more cable
- That type of EQ is not precise enough I guess. I cannot zoom in on a specific freq or can I ?
marklings OP
61 posts
 
Thanks everyone for the comments.

- MrD, Yes they are trying to be Yamaha NS10; this is really why I picked them in the first place, I wanted clarity, monitor like precision. I am not getting that. They are not in a nearfield position. They stand apart some 10 ft and I listen from 10 ft to each of them, properly placed I guess but not nearfield; I realize I might be getting room aberrations; I'll try with some frequency sample and see whether there's any bump up in the 100 Hz region.

- No, I can't really move them away from the wall

- A possible solution would be as someone suggested a closed design speaker; maybe one that does not go so low and the addition of a small subwoofer that would allow me much more control over the bass region.


marklings OP
61 posts
 
LOL tx for the comment

UPDATES

- I have checked with a tone generator and my room does have an even response to freqs. There’s a very noticeable dip in amplitude around 80 and 160 Hz

- Also I have tried one simple suggestion someone gave, stuff the ports with rags. The booming effect suddenly disappears; so the bass strength unfortunately.

I am wondering whether my best choice at this point would be to go for a sealed cabinet design such as ATC as someone suggested, either SCM 11 or 19 and possibly a sub.

Tx all again
marklings OP
61 posts
 
It has been an extremely educating experience reading all those posts. I made further digging and reading. I am coming to the following, very opinionated, conclusions.

- There's surprisingly little sealed cabinets around
- 99% of the speakers are ported designs
- A ported design makes the room part of the acoustic much more than a sealed design; which in essence is a bad thing because we do not live in apartments designed for listening to the music, quite the contrary; and room management is practically impossible in most situations
- Ported designs have taken the lead because they are more "glamorous" and lend themselves more easily to the current Rap oriented, bass heavy trend in music production
- Also they need less powerful amps
- Sealed design do not go that deep and require lot of power but are more accurate


marklings OP
61 posts
 
Thank you sounds,
I have convinced myself that most of the problem lies in the ported speakers being positioned too close to the rear wall. I will experiment with positioning but in the end I won't be able to move them forward so I incline to get closed seal speakers as have been suggested. 
marklings OP
61 posts
 
Thank you all for all the exceedingly useful suggestions.

I have done some experimenting moving my speakers away from the walls up to some 40". Not much change ! It sounds as if the problem is the room. There' a very clear spike at 70Hz and another one at 140.

The one at 70 is really impressive. By alternating a signal at 70 and 80 it's like the 70Hz signal sounds 5 times louder than the 80Hz one !

I could use a parametric EQ or better still a DSP solution. Any suggestion on room treatment not too invasive ?
Thanks a lot,
Mark
marklings OP
61 posts
 
rhljazz,
It's a new room, it never sounded good, yes it's a bad room for listening, close to a cube in shape.

As it happens I am not in a position to change room. BM6 probably not the right tool as you say; though I am sad to depart from them as I truly love their imaging and sound signature.

Sealed box and EQ would be the next logical step I guess. Thanks for the useful comment / suggestion.
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