Bass Boom

Hi,
My system = Naim CD5 + Nait5i + Spendor E6s (on spikes through carpet onto floor]

My problem = If there is really deep bass in music I can feel it through floor (suspended wooden).

My question = Would granite slabs be of any help tightening bass bearing in mind I have thick carpet and underlay?

Any suggestions would be appreciated - Cheers Jim

 

It's probably not your floor, but your walls. Have a read here - http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=49345

 

Some questions:
What are the dimensions and construction of the room?
Where are the speakers placed in the room - especially in relation to corners / alcoves / chimneys etc?
How is the room furnished?
Are there any frequencies at which the bass seems to catch - become one note (may not be the lowest frequency).

On a general note, deep bass is neither tight nor fast. It's slow and soft, and is felt more than it is heard. Listen to an unamplified double-bass for this.

 

Joel - exactly. If you are feeling it through the floor then there's a reason. It's because you are supposed to as you would if a bass amp\speaker and bass player were sat in front of you.

I really don't get this desire to get speakers so isolated that they end up not doing what they were supposed to.

 

if you have a problem with bass boom ....

loose the spikes !

a simple test will see if there removal is going to be benificial ..

get some 4" dia pipe insulation foam an cut 3 x 3" high dounuts per speaker ...

then sit the speaker on these and play your troublesome tracks ...

if this proves benifical ....make an isolation platform using auralex accoustic isolation foam between two wooden sheets ....

granite will not have any appreciable effect unless its physically bonded/bolted to the speaker ....ie the speaker will rattle away on top of the slab.....fixed to it the slab will absorb energy as its no considered part of the speaker cabinet ...

spikes will connecting the speakers to the floor ..not isolating them from it ...

any excess bass or freq. that are going to excite the room will have no finer way of being injected into the room boundaries [floor] than the method you have chosen !

 

I agree.

What the OP describes isn't 'bass boom' as I know it - just bass energy being transmitted to the floor. Bass boom is a specific strengthening (bloom) of the sound (not floor vibration) at certain bass frequencies. Removing the spikes is more likely to encourage bass boom than to reduce it IMHO.

 

only if you place the speaker/stand sytem on the floor without the isolation ...be it beneath the stand or between speaker and stand or speaker and floor ....

enough people have now tried this cheap tip to know that in some cases its preferable to spikes ...

if you leave out the isolation material you will get exactly what ynmoan suggest !

its the isolation material that is the important factor .....!

yes a single dominant bass freq thats being reinforced by the room can be excruciating ..... any and all means should be made to get rid of it !

 

My room is 4m x 3.5m with high ceiling (3m). The speakers are firing down the long way. The note that seems to be the most irritating is caused by bass guitar mostly, bass drum on the other hand sounds great. For information I hav erecently replaced Acoustic Energy AE1s with the Spendors ironically cos the AE1s whilst giving superb clarity and detail were just a wee bit bass light. OOOPS

 

Try pulling your speakers out a bit more from the back wall. You might be amazed just a few inches can make all the difference as I have found out with my application. There are also many other factors eg: amplifier not 100% suitable for the speakers in terms of current delivery for bass control. Hope this helps.

 

I had similar problems with my speakers when spiked through carpet + underlay into a suspended floor.
The solution was to use rounded spikes? that didn't pierce the carpet. Ok the speakers are less stable but the advantages outweighed the dis.

 

If it is specific notes that you are struggling with then I'd guess that it probably isn't just a perception problem with the speed / impact of low bass.

I've tried what Zanash said and it made make some difference. However I would also listen to Tenson and think that some bass trapping in the corners behind your speakers is a good idea

Alternatively moving them away from the corners / walls would may also reduce the bloom.

 

Bass traps will work but you will loose some dynamics in the music.

 

Bass traps don't make the bass any less dynamic, they just stop it from going where you don't want it, by absorbing it,

Keith.

 

Keith,

Have you tried them in your system?.... we experimented in a system and they totally killed it.

 

Dave Hi, yes I have, I can't see how you could have killed the bass unless you put them directly in front of the speakers!
Keith.

 

Keith,

Hmmmm, no they were not placed in front of the speakers. The dreaded 50hz bass boom had gone with the traps in place but left with a very dull lifeless representation. Anyway, thats my own experience and opinion as others may differ.

 

More experimentation required!

....and not all traps are created equal.

 

Dave Hi, I have been experimenting here this week, I have a decent room, with no real bass humps and horns ( mine at least ) don't really communicate with the floor.
But the improvement has been incredible, absolutely incredible ,the best and cheapest upgrade I have ever made.
Keith.

 

I am yet to be convinced of the sonic benefits to be had from isolating ones speakers (irrespective of the claims made by others).

I do use some room treatment though (not aimed at correcting the bass however) and I wouldn't be without it now.

 

What type of traps did you use? I think porous bass traps can do what you describe a little, because they tend to absorb more in the upper bass and midrange than they do in the lower bass. So the result is sometimes a rather sucked away upper bass which is actually where a lot of the bass impact is.

A membrane type trap shouldn't do that. Something like the Modex Plate from RPG.