Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners New M3's lacking low end. Any suggestions?

I own a pair of M3's that are used in a large basement. Up until recently, I was powering them with a Denon DRA-685 receiver. I love the M3's, but I do feel that in a large room (at lower volume levels) they need a bass boost. The Denon receiver has a "loudness" button which boosts the bass at lower listening levels. Some audiophiles will "cringe" at the thought of using the "loudness" feature, but I found it added immensley to the sound of the M3's in a large listening area. If you don't have a loudness feature, have you tried increasing the bass with the tone controls? Again, some will say you should always listen with the tone controls flat. I would try it and see how it sounds. My speakers are currently about 24" from the back wall. Yes, moving them closer to the wall gives them more bass, but at the expense of better imaging and soundstage. I'd play with the tone controls and see if that helps. Also, do you get better bass response when you turn up the volume, or is it lacking at all volume levels? Good luck.

Instead of messing with tone/loudness controls, you would be much better off treating your room with acoustic bass traps and panels. Second only to proper position.

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I really think the biggest problem was my expectations. I've heard so many great things about these speakers that I figured they would be perfect in every way. There is plenty of time for me listen and figure out if the Axioms are for me.

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The power of suggestion at work.

Take a look at my lengthy thoughts after receiving my Axioms in comparison to a Technics system i used to own. Many others who have gone before have had similar thoughts/disappointments prior to enlightenment.
Ultimately your brain will decide, in time.

Hi,

RobH raises an important point on which I've commented previously--that our hearing sensitivity to low bass at lower volume levels diminishes very rapidly, much faster than our response to midrange and high frequencies.

It's perfectly legitimate to at least try the bass control on your amplifier to see what 3 dB or 5 dB bass boost will do to your M3's bass output. Depending on the "hinge" point of the bass control circuit, it may provide an enjoyable lift in deep bass output without any significant coloration of upper bass such as male vocals.

The idea of never touching tone controls grew out of a misguided British notion that tone controls add distortion to the audio signal. Well designed ones do not, unless you consider a deviation away from flat frequency response a "distortion". And here's the irony: some of the earliest really good tone control circuits were designed by a British engineer, Peter Baxandall.

The M2s, M3s, and M22s will accept 3 to 6 dB of bass boost with ease, and, depending on the room and setup, it may nicely compensate for any perceived bass losses. Older stereo intergrated amplifiers and receivers almost always had a "Loudness" control in addition to the volume control. The Loudness control automatically boosted bass by increasing amounts to compensate for human hearing's loss of bass sensitivity at lower listening volumes.

Regards,

I have some exotic dark matter speaker drivers which definitely took time to break in.