You don't lack bass, you have too much treble


One of the biggest surprises in audio and acoustics is how damping a room with treatments makes small speakers sound so much bigger.  Yes, you get a broader, deeper soundstage but you also seem to get a lot more bass, more power, more extension!!

What's going on? 

What happened is your room was too bright.  The overall balance was too heavy on the mid and treble so as a result your systems balance was off.

For this reason I often suggest before A'goners start chasing bigger and bigger speakers, that  they think about the room first, add damping and diffusion and then go back to thinking about the bass.

Not saying you don't need a bigger speaker, but that some rooms may never have a big enough speaker in them due to the natural reflective properties.

erik_squires

I use a SPL meter on a tripod, and

do not like pink noise.

I use 1/3 octave test tones, like found on Amazing Bytes CD. Last one sold, $9.99 was me, I snapped it up. Actually the one on discogs for $42. delivered is a good price, most often $75. + delivery.

I don’t use LP test records, something might be off, CD’s always sound the same.

After measuring and adjusting in some manner, still using test tones: then adjust to your preference by ear.

I might revise Erik's statement, also true: you might have too much midrange, too much presence, which can be appealing, especially vocals, but in the same way, lessens the balance of the bass, and in many cases, at our age of reduced sensitivity to highs, you might find yourself boosting the highs.

Eurythmics Sweet Dreams will help you with final highs adjustments after measurements.

Details by themselves alone unbalanced are a defect not a +...

This defect can come from the gear synergy or pieces but often  the first thing to look  at   and the last thing to look at is always acoustics and room acoustic to improve things ...

The OP is right as usual ....

😊

Flat frequency response is indeed what you want for accurate reproduction. Music has a natural high end roll off, but if your speakers don't reproduce the entire spectrum, you will have an artificial rolloff. 

Most of the points made above are valid.

Check the response at the listening position first. @eric_squires had a good suggestion and the 1/3 test tones also.

I used pink noise because it was easy and encompassed the entire spectrum.  Flat is flat.  unless your measuring instruments roll off or boost frequencies, it is what you are seeing.

If you see any dips (I have a serious dip at 58 hz), or hills, there is your problem.

Is it a particular component in your system?  Speakers, source, pre-amp, amp? or the room?  But, doing this test, at least you can see if there is a problem.

If it shows too much bass because you have three million REL subwoofers, but you like how it sounds, then more power to you.

I want my system and room to give me as close to a flat response as possible.  That is how equipment is typically designed, unless the manufacturer is playing games.  

Flat first, then adjust as you like.

Heck, I've gone to some serious hi end dealers and listened to their top equipment and they were sitting there trying to sell my friends and I on how much bass response the speakers had.  "you can feel it in your chest" they would say.  And I, who played classical violin, sax, etc. would say, you know that is way too much bass.

This is very similar to younger people who are used to MP3 or compressed digital and think this is great.  it is all they ever heard and people told them it was good.  Too much bass is too much bass.  was it really recorded that way?

 

Anyway, just my thoughts.