Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Frequency emphasis?

Her voice is fairly low for a woman's voice, as I recall. You don't happen to have equalization turned on, do you? I don't remember if your receiver has it. I doubt that's what it is, but hey...

[Edited] I would think the M3 bass peak is at too low a frequency to affect most vocals. It's around the 100-150 Hz range and not all that big.

If you only notice this with the deepest male vocals then M3 response is a possibility. If it's in the upper vocal frequencies then boundary effects or even comb filtering between the two M3s seem more likely.

First thing to try is to disconnect one of the M3s (you might need to adjust the center channel level) -- if that makes a difference, then comb filtering is your culprit. Since your M3s are vertically separated it would actually be vertical angle that affects the response, but I find it's pretty hard to move a few feet off axis without moving vertically a bit at the same time.

Just don't move around to get a handle on comb filtering effects with anyone in the room or you'll end up getting rude comments about the big solo dance scene in Napoleon Dynamite.

I forget what receiver you have, but cranking the crossover frequency way up (many go to 200 Hz) is an easy way to eliminate the bass peak as a culprit. You'll get a bass hole instead (the sub probably rolls off around 100) but different is good, right ?

Are the M3s definitely "in front of" the TV, not behind the TV or a shelf even 1/2 inch ?

I'm guessing this is what you call v2 of the home theater -- downstairs, but still TV not projector ?

I am using a projector, so the speakers are mounted against the speaker wall, above and below the speaker.

I'll take pics tonite and hopefully be able to show you all what I am dealing with.

Was BG on dvd or TV?

I some times have real problems with broadcast.

Robb, although I'd be inclined to go with the M2s, if whatever the "emphasis" is(you're having trouble targeting it and you're right there; it's even tougher for us)has to do with positioning rather than the M3 "hump", then the M2s wouldn't solve the problem. Since the top speaker is diagonally a foot or so farther from your ears when you're sitting, check if the sound is different when you stand and the distances to the two M3s would be about equal.

My guess is comb filtering as well with the likelihood of phase cancellations and reinforcement at certain frequencies. Its the reason I have always shyed away from dual speakers in the centre channel. I agree substituting a centre for the duals would likely solve the problem.

if you disconnect one of the pair of centers,
does the anomaly lessen, or disappear completely.
try it first with the lower disconnected, then the upper.

this may help you decide if it is an issue of room characteristics , or a issue of phase cancellation.

i just got a regular vp100, maybe one day a vp150.

hth
randy

I watched the Matrix Revolutions last night, the vocals all seemed to be fine, there was no emphasis on any frequency.

Perhaps it could have been the source? BSG on DVD? I'll conduct more experinments, but I am suspecting that the source is the issue.

Hi Hutzal,

If what you were hearing was a combination of boundary effects plus the little M3 bass hump, you'd hear it on all the male voices (or female alto voices) regardless of the source.

Miking does vary quite a bit from one movie to the next, and sometimes microphones that have uneven response (bass output is boosted when the microphone is placed close to the actor) are used for whispered or "sotto voce" dialog. In the latter case, the upper bass coloration is very noticeable and annoying.

But if you didn't hear it from the Matrix Revolutions movie, then it's not the fault of the M3's location or boundary effects from the wall.

Last night, with friends and colleagues, I watched part of a truly terrible movie calle "One Night With the King" (avoid it!) with highly uneven microphone technique that varied from one scene to the next and made for lousy dialog intelligibility.

Regards,

Thanks Alan, after watching The Matrix, this is what I came to realize, that it was probably the source not the speakers. So strange that upstairs I watched alot of Battlestar Gallactica and never really experienced this problem. I will continue to intently listen, I'll report back with updates if I have any.

Thanks for chiming in, I was seriously considering switching up for M2s (which I didn't really want to do).

-Robb.