My M19's are trying to kill me!

[juniper]

Need a little help from the forums members. Scenario, I turned my M19's into a secondary system and placed them in the basement, the room is mostly open with concrete floors, and a 4' foot cinder block wall on half on one side of the space, the other side has the same but its covered in either drywall or nasty paneling 22'X40'..... this is a temporary set up, but it is so forward and loud it seems dangerous... I have lost all of the cohesion of this system that was placed in another room... Same amps, same everything..... the sound is way to intense even at moderate volumes. I have tried Mono single,double, stereo...... What is strange, is I tried a single cornwall in my garage which is concrete all 5.5 sides are concrete, including the roof.. it sounded listenable, that space is 24'X20'... what am I missing here? I have never heard a transformation quite like this..... I must say though, violins are as dry as the desert and you can hear almost every note...

[bowtie427ss]

Does your basement have a ceiling?

My WAG is standing waves and reflections abound.

It will take some room treatment, but i'll bet you can make the room sound pretty good with some work.

I'd start with corner traps in the corners most immediately behind the 19's, and damp the heck out of all the first reflection areas including the ceiling if it's been hung with drywall.

[juniper]

Does your basement have a ceiling?

My WAG is standing waves and reflections abound.

It will take some room treatment, but i'll bet you can make the room sound pretty good with some work.

I'd start with corner traps in the corners most immediately behind the 19's, and damp the heck out of all the first reflection areas including the ceiling if it's been hung with drywall.

Thanks Bowtie! it has an open frame ceiling with exposed floor joists at this point, with plywood as the base for the upper floor, the reflections are insane. I am very fickle about imaging and hearing a recording good or bad.. this is like a blare machine.... I will try throwing in some treatments in for the interim... Thanks for the help!!!!

[VolvoHeretic]

I live just down the road from a large furniture outlet and they always have old bed mattresses and couches sitting outside that they remove after delivering new stuff to costumers, I always thought that I could line my basement with mattresses and cushions. Remember Conan's late show and the cushions on the wall during his monolog?

Anyway, my upstairs stereo room is 14' x 36', but I have another duplicate stereo (EV Sentry IV's instead of Altec's) in the basement directly under it which is 14' x 24'. When the upstairs one is running, at say 100db, it isn't so bad listening from the basement, but when it is the other way around, it sounds like someone is beating on the heat ducts and registers with drum sticks. It was even working the nails up that where holding the plywood down in the upstairs floor (pre glued & screwed era) until I screwed it down with a million heavy screws. I have no idea how to fix the heating ducts.

[zelgall]

Another easy thing to try would be to move them to a different location in the room.
Alternatively, try the short wall and then try the long wall locations and note the difference. If it still sounds harsh or unbalanced, move them back to the prior room that sounded good to see if you have damged or dislodged something during the move.

[juniper]

Thanks for the help guys!!! I will work with your suggestions!!!

[ALTEC-REP]

mostly open with concrete floors, and a 4' foot cinder block wall on half on one side of the space, the other side has the same but its covered in either drywall or nasty paneling 22'X40'..... this is a temporary set up, but it is so forward and loud it seems dangerous...

Shipping blankets! LOTS of shipping blankets! [Note to board members - I've been to Juniper's place so I know the space...]

Seriously - Audio Tool for $7.99 on a cheap tablet will show you the Reverb Time (Rt60) in 1/3-octave bands. Once you understand the enemy he becomes much easier to control & kill! After damping the reflections you can try relocating the speakers - corners on the 22' wall would be my first choice.

[mah]

Wall mattresses are only for the Bose enthusiasts!

[Altec Best]

Small concrete rooms are very difficult to control..Just about every surface needs some sort of dampening...Are they staying there permanently ? If not wouldn't worry to much about it..But if they are going to be down there for awhile then plenty of dampening material is in order.. Might be a good idea to fill the ceiling joists with fiberglass insulation..That should help with the ceiling.Then cover with cloth,sheets,etc..

BTW- Folks it is never a good idea to bring "OLD" mattresses or cushioned furniture into your home from unknown places... Lord knows what you could be bringing into your home.Cockroaches,bedbugs,etc... They are on the curb for a reason.

@VH Be careful bud bringing that stuff home...

[GM]

For sure! My 'hood is mostly rentals now, with many comings and goings in the wee-wee hours of folks who have no command of the English language, so when mattresses, sofas, etc., go to the curb, I walk on the other side of the street ever since I learned that Hotlanta had become a 'hotbed' for beg bugs in recent years.

GM