[ooheadsoo]

Here's my system which includes a pic: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;system=342

Some things have changed.  The speakers have come out further from the wall.  The subwoofer is between the speakers.  The monitor sits on top of the sub so it is behind the plane of the speakers.  I have 3 bales of fiberglass, two in the front right corner and one in the rear left.  I also have a 1/3 panel of fiberglass on the ceiling at the first reflection point.  The room is carpeted.

I have little macro dynamics with my mbow1s.  Or maybe it's just me.  The reason I am questioning this now is because I just put together an ultra cheap home theater system upstairs in a much much much larger room with Polk floorstanding 2 ways for the fronts.  They're not expensive ones, pretty entry level and I got them on sale for a song.  Here's the thing.  They pack a wallop.  I don't need a subwoofer for that system unless I want to hit 20hz.  The floorstanders only have one 6.5" woofer in each of them.  What's the beef?  Return of the King almost rocks the house.  Now, I haven't played return of the king on my system but somehow I don't think it will have the same impact.  Btw, I am running with my diy subwoofer off because I'm not too happy with it.  Certainly that affects the dynamics since I'm down to two 5" woofers compared to two 6" woofers I have upstairs.  Ok, now that I'm writing this, I realize that it's really stupid to post this without watching some return of the king in my listening room.  However, assuming that my system will be CONSIDERABLY less dynamic than the HT upstairs, do you think it's because of the smaller woofer size?  Or is it the fiberglass?  On the other hand, I'm just really suprised at the macro dynamics of the HT with Polk fronts upstairs.

[Watson]

Do the dynamics improve if you stuff the speaker ports?  (I'm not talking about bass dynamics, which will obviously be less prominent sealed, but midrange and up dynamics?)  If so, your speakers may be tuned a bit too aggressively.  This tends to slow down the bass and upper bass.

Another option to consider is making sure you're high passing the mains.  If you run a fullrange signal to the mains and depend on the speaker's natural rolloff to remove bass that the speakers can't play, all that extra low frequency energy that can't be played gets burned away in the voice coil as heat.  This causes power compression, even at relatively low volume levels.

[ooheadsoo]

No, plugging the ports indeed does not help.  

I am not running with my subwoofer now, for about a week, but it basically sounds the same whether my mains are highpassed or not, back when I had the subwoofer in.  I have run it for significant periods of time in both configurations and there are no immediate impressions that delta sound of the two configurations make to my ears, either short or long term.  It can play very loud, that's not an issue.  Maybe I'm not watching enough movies on my system, which is why the HT impressed me so much with its dynamics.  This thread could really be for naught.  I should really listen to return of the king soon.  Otherwise, it should be a half-way straight comparison to my HT floorstanders.  No subs in either system.

[warnerwh]

" The speakers have come out further from the wall"
Try moving the speakers back near the wall. Walls reinforce the bass by upto several db.

[ooheadsoo]

The rears of the speakers are only about 1.7 feet out.  I've thought about putting them closer back.  I may do it if return of the king sounds flat.

[ooheadsoo]

I still haven't had time to listen to ROTK, but at least with my sub on, what am I thinking?  My system is plenty dynamic.  I think I was just surprised by how dynamic the cheap HT is.

[DSK]

In addition to helping flatten the frequency response and reduce the room's reverberation time, the addition of fibreglass treatments will usually INCREASE dynamics rather than decrease them. Will also help extend the soundstage further forward of the speakers into the room and provide added inner detail.