New speakers - masses of boomy bass

[walpurgis]

To be honest. This might be the stage at which it might be good to accept that some room/speaker combinations just don't work. Can you borrow other speakers to try?

In your circumstances, I'd be looking at good standmounters on rigid, spiked stands. The Reference 3A Dulcets listed today in Private Exhibitions spring to mind. they are gorgeous. Reference make amazingly good speakers.

[Mikeandvan]

Yes, I have tried Epos es 11 and they were ok, but was looking for something with a bit more detail, but tbh I may go back to them. I was also considering Spendor s3, and other minimonitors, but fear my power amp - 45w (Naim Nap 140) might not have power to drive them, or they'll be too bright with my Naim amps. So I guess I need stand mounts with some warmth, but also detail.

[walpurgis]

Sonus Faber.

[Mikeandvan]

To be honest. This might be the stage at which it might be good to accept that some room/speaker combinations just don't work. Can you borrow other speakers to try?

In your circumstances, I'd be looking at good standmounters on rigid, spiked stands. The Reference 3A Dulcets listed today in Private Exhibitions spring to mind. they are gorgeous. Reference make amazingly good speakers.

Just read a review of the Dulcets, stated they were very inefficient (although most of the review was gushing), does this mean they need a lot of power to drive them?

[walpurgis]

Just read a review of the Dulcets, stated they were very inefficient (although most of the review was gushing), does this mean they need a lot of power to drive them?

What was the sensitivity quoted in the review?

[Starterman]

I don't understand why after 4 weeks the OP hasn't stuffed the ports.
Everything else suggested, except perhaps moving the speakers, is just fiddling around the edges compared to blocking out the waffle emanating from the fart holes.

If the OP, or any one else, is unfortunate enough for the port output to coincide with the main room mode lengthwise or widthwise then the situation is dire. 14ft will give a room mode at 40Hz. The height being about half of this could exacerbate the problem. Placing the speakers in the wrong place across the room e.g. equal spacing to side walls and double that distance between the speakers will make mattes worse again.

So... move the speakers and/or block the ports.

On the subject of spikes etc... cheap and easy to provide lossy decoupling - just a bit of underlay and square of carpet under the plinth of each speaker is quite effective.

[Macca]

Blocking the ports might reduce the amount of bass but it will also alter the entire performance of the speaker and not in a good way. It's not really a solution to the problem.

[walpurgis]

Blocking the ports might reduce the amount of bass but it will also alter the entire performance of the speaker and not in a good way. It's not really a solution to the problem.

Yes. Blocking or partially blocking ports raises the speaker bass resonance. Results are unpredictable.

[Starterman]

Blocking the ports might reduce the amount of bass but it will also alter the entire performance of the speaker and not in a good way. It's not really a solution to the problem.

How does it alter the entire perfomance?

[Macca]

The performance of the mid bass and bass drivers will depend on the pressure or lack of it inside the cab. Added to that some drivers will only work optimally in a vented enclosure. If you block the port you change the loading on the driver and this will change how it performs across the entire frequency band, almost certainly for the worse and certainly in a way not intended by the designer.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the low damping factor of the Naim amp, plus the room, placement of the speakers and possibly the characteristics of the speaker cable are combining to produce the problem. The problem is not inherent to the speakers, since they were not designed to give 'masses of boomy bass', so modifying the speakers is not likely to be a satisfactory solution.