Speakers sound too bright.


I just bought a new pair of Martin Logan 60xti speakers.  They are too bright and fatiguing.  I would like to avoid returning them.  I've tried toeing them in and out.  I cant get them further than 1ft away from the wall (back of speaker to wall).  I have a about 1-2 hrs of play time on them.  Not sure if break in will help settle the upper frequencies down. Any suggestions...?

rwalsh07

@rwalsh07 "What did you have before the Lintons?"

Let’s see: Bose 901 Series I and IV, Infinity 1001a, Infinity Column II, Infinity Monitor 2A, Infinity RS 2.5, Infinity Renaissance 80, Triangle Celius, Triangle Antals, Magnepan MMG, Magnepan .7, Tekton Perfect Set 2-12, Tekton Perfect Set 15, Moth Audio Cicadas, KEF LS-50s, Klipsch Heresy, M-L Electro Motion ESL, and some others 

I know purists would shudder to think that anyone serious about sound quality would stoop so low as to do this but this could be dealt with via EQ. turn down the treble and see if it solves the problem. Its a cheap and easy fix. If you cannot eq out the harshness you are hearing then its time to box em up and get something different.

Step 1 is assessing your room's acoustic setup (absorption, etc.). Step 2 is your speaker placement - follow manufactures guidance to start. The final step is getting different speakers. 

Ignore anyone telling you to get new cables or amps.

@rwalsh07, I haven’t read any of the comments so disregard my reply if it is deemed irrelevant.

 

Have you done an RTA from your seated position?

 

That should give you the best snapshot of how the speaker is coupling with the room. Doing this is better than any cable change (unless you worried them wrong) or any preamp/DAC/Amp change.

 

Get a UMIK-1 from MiniDSP. Get this measurement tool for the RTA - https://www.roomeqwizard.com/ and use this method of RTA - this link (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-moving-microphone-method-mmm-for-dummies-using-rew.51333/) and this (https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/moving-mic-measurement.262246/) and this (https://www.loudspeakers.audio/en/faqs/mmm-moving-mic-measurement/)

To get to know how the speakers are interacting with the room. That should clearly show you offending sections of the in room frequency response, RT60 and the whole lot of important data.

 

It is a learning curve with REW but getting this done opens you eyes to a whole lot of ways to deal with issues of speaker/room coupling and how the placement of these speakers in the room can drastically change the tonal identity of a speaker.

 

Yap aside, most Martin Logans I’ve heard have had an overzealous bite to their lower treble and mid treble presentation... Leading to initial wow factor but long lasting irritation

@koffibaffor —overzealous bite in the lower treble is spot on. I’m tired of trying out different speakers. It’s a lot of work @ time. My budget is $2k. Either I keep the Logans or try the Lintons or Polk 700s. My gut is telling me that the 60xti are going to sound better to me. I’m not changing gear, I like me gear. I have some thinking to do. These white 60xti speakers are gorgeous too. Got some pondering to do. Don’t get me wrong though, these 60xti speakers sound really good, just bad recordings sound bad and good sounding recordings give me goose bumps.

I like this forum how everybody comes together in helping each find solutions.

muy first time posting…