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Sound quality vs. volume

Looking for a bit of expertise here:

I recently made a few changes to my setup and while overall pleased with the results, I’m on the quest for better.  I’m hoping you all can help me diagnose an issue I’m hearing.

When listening to music at lower volume levels - say less than 1/2 total volume, the clarity, imaging and dynamics come across far more coherent and “in focus”.  To use an often over-coined phrase “It’s like I’m there in the room”.  As I start to push the volume up a bit, closer to live-performance levels, the sound becomes increasingly “mushy”.  I know, a highly technical term, but the best way to describe what I am hearing.  The bottom-end loosens up - getting a bit boomy, the crispness of the mid-range and highs fade and the imaging falls out of focus.  These are all incremental with volume until I get to the point where it’s just unbearable.   

I’m no expert by any means but feel it might be room acoustics.  I already know I have a less than ideal setup with a nearly square room (21x20ft) with 60% of the surface covered with clear birch wood paneling. Some things we can’t change (easily).  I do not have any acoustic treatment, just lots of soft furniture.  What I find interesting is that my old setup (Magnepan 1.6) didn’t suffer to such a degree.  Maybe with the new setup there is more to loose?  A mystery.  

For a bit more context:  
Speakers:  Dynaudio Contour 60
Streamer: SoTM sms-200 Ultra
Amplifier: Peachtree Nova500

Within the 20x21ft. room, my speakers are 4ft. from the wall, I am seated 13ft. from the front wall (a bit back from room center). Speakers are 9ft. apart.

Any thoughts?  


wanderingmoo
gryphongryph
350 posts
 
As someone already advised you, don’t have the same distance to the speakers from corners and sidewalls, watch this, should give you a clue https://youtu.be/8b1W7QgqhR8
https://youtu.be/KE-AQZGUXTM
gosta's avatar
gosta
839 posts
 
"Life's too short to listen low"
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Problems with the system itself producing distortion or congestion is actually probably better described as a dynamic range issue as opposed to a volume or loudness issue. That’s the primary reason why CDs in particular are frequently overly compressed - higher loudness levels can be achieved without producing certain types of distortion such as clipping.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
Great wanderingmoo, I'd love an explanation for that username. Anyway, those speakers are quite capable of a clean 110 dB with the right amp in your room. Subs will increase your headroom and lower distortion in the mid bass but do not bother until you can afford two. One sub can be very frustrating for listeners who cherish accuracy. This is what gives Subs a bad rep in some circles. As for your room acoustics because of the dimensions you are going to produce standing waves around 40 Hz. As you walk down the room the bass will go from too loud to almost non existent then back again. We use to deal with this by placing the listening position where the bass was right. Now we have room control. You could also bulldoze your rear wall down;)  For upper frequencies, to improve your imaging and smooth out your frequency response you want to dampen the four strongest primary reflections (PR) in your room. Basically you are playing pool with your room. if you roll a ball from the listening position to the side wall you want to hit the point at which the ball will rebound into your speaker. That point is one PR. The arrival angle of the ball from a line perpendicular to the wall will equal the departure angle from the same perpendicular. Look at the geometry on paper. You want to find 4 PRs one on each side wall and two on the front wall between the speakers. Once you locate the PRs make  3 X 3 or 4 X 4 foot panels at each one at ear level using 12" acoustic foam tiles. partsexpress.com. They are dirt cheap. I tack them up with double sided tape. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,175 posts
 
Glupson, actually our ears will tolerate 100 dB just fine as long as you get there correctly. Start off at 85 dB and go up in 5 dB increments every five minutes. This gives your stapedius muscles time to clamp down on the occicles, the three little bones that attach the tympanic membrane (ear drum) to the oval window of the cochlea (microphone). Impulse noise like a gunshot at 100 dB is far more damaging. No time for the stapedius to damp down the volume. Always warm up your guests accordingly.
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