gmc56 wrote: "...all my systems have sounded screechy and lacking in mid bass to bass."
Imo "screechy" implies excess energy in the 2-4 kHz region. This is where many speakers have a crossover from midwoofer to tweeter. The tweeter typically has a very wide radiation pattern in this region. In a small room (in particular), this excess off-axis energy bounces back quickly and correspondingly skews the frequency response and can contribute to listening fatigue. Ime this sort of problem is best addressed at the speaker design level rather than trying to fix it with absorptive room treatments.
Regarding lack of midbass and bass, perhaps there are significant nulls at the listening position. Multiple small subwoofers distributed asymmetrically around the room can often alleviate this kind of problem, as each sub’s room-induced peaks and dips will be at different frequencies, so they will tend to fill in one anothers dips, and their peaks not be as prominent either.
Unfortunately I have no handy suggestions for a simultaneous solution to both issues within your price ballpark.
Duke
speaker designer
