[ctviggen]

I purchased Zybar's HT3s as a possible replacement to my VMPS RM40s, which I think are great but physically too big.  (And, please don't ask about comparisons of these speakers; I haven't had time for any.) 

I put the HT3s in my HT room, listened to them once or twice, and thought they were a bit boomy.  My room then went through a period of "deconstruction".  Well, I finally have my HT room partially put back together enough to begin to listen to music, and I still think the HT3s are boomy.  Is this just my getting used to these speakers?  Would placing the speakers in a different position help?  (They're currently in the same position as where the previous speakers were.)  By "boomy", I mean the bass overwhelms all other sound. 

As for my room, I have 2 Mondotraps in the front corner, 2 other bass traps in the rear corners from Realtraps that they no longer make, 2 minitraps at the first reflection points, 2 microtraps put between the speakers, one minitrap on the ceiling, and two sub traps under my subs (which aren't currently being used).  I'm using a modified SB2 directly into a Jeff Rowland amp, with all Bolder Cable interconnects and speaker wire. 

[95bcwh]

...No...no boomy bass...and my room is 13x11x8, but I have 27 acoustic panels (4 inch thick, 8 lb/ft3 mineral wool).

[jermmd]

My HT3's aren't boomy at all. You've seen my HT set up. You're always welcome for a listen if you want to hear and see my present set up.

[carusoracer]

I know you are a very experienced audiophile... I had some initial heavy bass but I played around extensively with room placement. I have less treatment than you but my room is very open and large.
I have heard different amounts of bass in every room I have listened to them. I liked to have them at least 24" from the rear walls, per Jim, to start and a lot of toe in...
Not sure of the dimensions of your room but you seem to have covered the room treatment area
They are very revealing in both room nodes and upstream equipment. I tried a simple test of taking a small couch pillow and placing it behind the speaker that seems to produce the most bass if your room is not symmetrical. I marked the position of the pillow and played several tracks with test tones below 100 and big bass tracks and experimented from there. Then I went after placement within reason away from the rear wall, WAF in mind. It took awhile but I finally nailed it and they really took off. YMMV  They do move a lot of air.

Good luck they are great speakers not only to look at but to listen fatigue free for hours.

[flintstone]

Have you ever tried the "CARDAS" speaker setup method in your room? If not, give it a try just for the heck of it. It works well in "most" rooms.


Dave

[JoshK]

When I had my RM40's, I had them in 5 different rooms, cause I moved a lot then.  They could be boomy or thin depending on the room and placement.  I think a lot of speakers get blamed for what really is room & interaction.  Measurement gear is required to definitively know, but I trust Dennis Murphy, and know they were "voiced" to be flat in most rooms.  Obviously this doesn't extend to your room.

You probably have a standing wave at the listening position from floor to ceiling, which is very common.  This is most likely the culprit.  It is also a bit hard to solve without hanging a bass trap from the ceiling.  Try speaker placement to move the standing wave behind or in front of the seating position.

[DMurphy]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but there's not a lot I can do from a crossover standpoint to avoid problems like this.  I think the box tuning on the HT3 is basically correct--it's tuned to around 32 Hz, which is about as low as you would want to go.  But any driver with as much bass reach as the HT3's will excite room modes, particularly around 60 Hz.  The only thing I could have done is use virtually no baffle step compensation in order to get the midrange output nearer the room mode peak.  I actually tried that.  You end up with a big cavity in the response around 150 hz and a midrange that sounds like a flight of migrating geese.  In most cases, yo9u should be able to get satisfactory results through experimentation with room placement, assuming the room isn't just too small to work with. 

[randybessinger]

Getting the bass right in a room is not an easy task.  In most cases, it requires placement, room treatments, and sometimes equalization. 

[zybar]

Getting the bass right in a room is not an easy task.  In most cases, it requires placement, room treatments, and sometimes equalization. 

I used all three to get killer bass in two different rooms with the exact pair of HT3's that ctviggen has. 

While I am big proponent of digital eq, it should only be done after you do as much as possible with speaker placement and room treatment.

George

[randybessinger]

Getting the bass right in a room is not an easy task.  In most cases, it requires placement, room treatments, and sometimes equalization. 

I used all three to get killer bass in two different rooms with the exact pair of HT3's that ctviggen has. 

While I am big proponent of digital eq, it should only be done after you do as much as possible with speaker placement and room treatment.

George

I agree.

[DARTH AUDIO]

Buy a Rives PARC.. Works great. When I moved to my new condo my bass became boomy!! It was really causing problems for my mids & highs. I didn't want to use a lot of room treatments. I inserted the PARC and WOW!! The first thing I noticed was the inner detail I was missing due to the boomy bass. Just a suggestion.

Good Luck,

Gary

[miklorsmith]

If you're using a Squeezebox or Transporter, the Inguz plugin includes a semi-parametric EQ that can shave the bump.  Just figure out where the problem is, set an EQ band there, and cut to taste.

[ctviggen]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything and probably won't for a few months.  I plan on ripping out the ceiling and one wall of the room where these speakers are, and performing some upgrades.  In particular, I'm going to install some canned lighting and different ceiling fans.  I'm going to route wires for the surround speakers and for the projector I purchased.  I'm going to insulate the ceiling and wall and install clips for drywall installation.  I'm going to install two layers of drywall onto the clips, and also put green glue between the layers.  I'm also going to run a few more circuits into the attic from the basement.  I'm also going to install a cheap outside door and will have to modify the existing other two doors.  This is at least several weekends worth of work, and that only gets me to the point where I can mess around with the speakers.

Before I get to this, though, I have to insulate all the windows in the house.  I'm starting on this project today.  I also have to install some cabinets I purchased into the laundry room.  This is probably a two day or even two weekend project, as I need to cut a whole through one of the cabinets to route hot air from a dryer.  I also bought crown molding to put on top of the cabinets, and the crown molding will be flush with the ceiling.  I've never installed cabinets or put up crown molding on the cabinets, so this might be a lengthy process. 

Anyway, this is just to point out how long it will be before I have time for a comparison of these speakers.  My goal is to compare these two systems by hooking both up and listening them, and also using ETF.  I'll then keep the system I like and sell the system I don't.

[Big Red Machine]

What type of amplification do you use?