Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Denon AVR-3313 - Sound not as good as I expected

Another vote for looking at room & placement.

When I first set up my M60's in the living room there was almost no bass... walking around the house I found that there was powerful bass in the loft and at the entrance to my bedroom.

Turned out that the room shape (cathedral ceiling with speakers aimed across the peak) required that I rotate everything 90 degrees, so the speakers aimed along the peak rather than across it. It's not actually where they are aiming that matters for bass, of course, but rather the relationship between speaker and listening position.

Your description of the sound when cranking up suggests a few possibilities:

1 - speaker placement per above - if bass is weak from placement everything else will sound louder

2 - make sure the speakers are not out of phase... that would give both weak bass and generally unsatisfying sound

3 - Mojo's suggestions re: dual binding posts etc..., that bit me as well

4 - after all of the above, the room may be more live / reflective than ideal... experiment with something absorbent behind you and/or on the floor between you & speakers and/or side wall at the first reflection points between you & speakers

I found that having a reflective wall behind me really hurt the perceived sound quality, and that even holding a pillow up behind my head made a significant difference. That is not a practical solution obviously but just trying to demonstrate that there are easy things you can try to get a handle on what is happening without having to re-arrange the room 30 times.

I did end up having to re-arrange a few times though...