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Help me tame my out of control bass

Hey all,

Hoping to get some advice on how to tame what appear to be some pretty bad room modes. See my system here:
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8800

I’m in a bit of a pickle for a few reasons. First, my NY apartment is on the small side and requires me to set up on the long wall with the listening position against the opposite wall. On top of that I upgraded to my dream speakers, Egglestonworks Kivas. They sound amazing but they’re big and have a lot of low end reach. The combination of these two factors leads to the waterfall you see in my system - a pretty massive bump in low end, particularly at 40-44hz and from 60-70hz.

There’s also a huge bump at 120hz, but I don’t understand how that one is possible. I think that might be a measurement or microphone error - I don’t hear that at all and it doesn’t go away even when I EQ 120hz out completely, but maybe it’s a resonance?

Things I’ve tried so far, each with modest success:
- Plugging the ports gave me about a -5db reduction in the trouble spots (all measurements are with the port blocked)
- I don’t have a ton of placement flexibility but moving them back from their original position gained me about a -3dB reduction in bass
- I added a pair of 5.5” thick GIK bass traps, but they didn’t do much that I’m seeing in the measurements. Maybe a -1-2dB reduction, tops. They honestly helped more with the mids and highs.
- Convolution curve in Roon - this works the best, but doesn’t solve the problem for home theater or vinyl

I’m pretty stumped as to what else I can do. I think that the amount of bass traps needed to fix this is more than my marriage can withstand. I’m considering the PSI AVAA active bass traps, but only if I can do a home trial of them first to see if they’ll actually help - I worry this 8-10dB bump I’m seeing will be too much for even a pair of those. I could get a DIRAC processor from miniDSP and that would at least then work for all digital sources. Vinyl is mostly not a problem since this is so low and most of my vinyl is rock and jazz.

Any other ideas? Rolling tubes that have less bass? Are there any less expensive EQs with digital in and out that I could use as an alternative to the DIRAC for home theater only?
hudsonhawk
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
@jimofmaine it never occurred to me until I started getting into measurement and understanding room modes that a reason to get subs is to have more flexibility in placement of where the bass is being generated.

@millercarbon she absolutely had her priorities straight and there was no way I would have ever convinced her to swap places. Sadly she passed away recently but she lived a long life and enjoyed my hobby a lot as it gave her lots of lap time, although like many from her generation she preferred digital to analog (because I never had to get up to change the record).
hudsonhawk OP
137 posts
 
@oldhvymec ha, don’t worry the mic is at my head position. You’ve definitely got me thinking though of some creative ways to absorb the boundary issues on the left side where the windows are. On the right speaker because it’s an open room there’s no boundary issues there. 
uncledemp
705 posts
 
@millercarbon

Save some insults and puffery for the rest of us.
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
erik_squires10,600 posts02-22-2021 10:33amI just looked at your waterfall. That's not your speakers!

That solid green line at 120 is background noise. More likely either your equipment or something like an AC running.



Bang on erik. It is pretty evident in the waterfall where the 120Hz does not decay.  Most 60Hz noise presents as 120Hz due to rectification. It is likely electrical noise.



audio2design
1,351 posts
 
Going to guess your main room is about 8m * 5m with 3m ceilings?

Then I am going to guess there is a wide hallway or extension off the main room?

8m, 5m, 3m are your 60, 110, and 180Hz approx peaks, then with a range of harmonics off those sizes.

The 45Hz is typically too low for a typical sized apartment, especially in NY and you said it is small? That leads me to believe there is a hallway / extension off the main room creating the 45Hz node and the suck-out just above it.
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