Reducing Bass output

[sumotan]

Hi Guys
As silly as this may sound but is there a way to reduce bass output without a little having to reducing volume ?

Thanks

 

[rayma]

Adjust the speaker's position in the room, by walking around listening for less bass, and then put
the speaker there (reciprocity). Of course you can use the tone controls if available, but they
often work way too far up into the midrange.

 

[sumotan]

Thks for the quick reply Rayma. Speaker placement has been done & optimized.
It's a funny scenario that Im caught up with. I've a pair of ML Odyssey, after the recent recoating of the esl panels it sounded way too loud from original. I had to reduce a fair bit of bias voltage to match the woofer output but in doing so Im loosing a some dynamics from the esl panels. Right now its sounding ok as my woofers are set to minus 3 db & if I set it to zero the bass output over whelms my room. Hence my thought of what if I can reduce bass at zero db, I could raise the bias voltage of the esl panels.

Many thanks

 

[rayma]

One of my speaker systems is the ML Aerius i, and the bass is reasonably well balanced,
though not very well defined.

If you have tone controls, maybe the bass turnover frequency could be lowered enough
to be useful, instead of changing the HV.

 

[GM]

Appears to be a sealed cab, so loosen a woofer and find the gap that works best, shim/tighten it. Some folks like to fill the gap with open cell foam or similar to make it more ~aperiodic.

GM

 

[eriksquires]

Hi Sumotan,

It sounds like you are running into classic room mode issues, stuck between too little bass that doesn't feel well balanced, and boomy bass.

The fastest solution to this is usually EQ + room acoustics. EQ alone can remove the peaks which prevent you from being able to turn up the woofer, but bass traps can also help solve nulls as well, plus make any adjustments more universal and less about just 1 location.

Best,

E

 

[TMM]

As above, try moving the speakers and/or listening position if practical. Especially try to move the speakers and listener out from the walls/corners.

If that doesn't work for you, remove a woofer and place some extra damping material in the enclosure - polyester wadding is just fine.

 

[sumotan]

Thanks guys for the advice. Speakers are 5 ft from back wall already. As it is right now its sounds good with woofer output set at -3db. Objective of my Q is wanting to increase HV to panels so the I get more dynamics but in doing so loudness will be out of balance with woofers. Will try shimming GM thks. Did try adding more damping material but it kills the sound.

Thanks again Gents

 

[OllBoll]

I'll echo the EQ suggestions. Bass traps won't help*, if anything they will just dampen the midrange and high frequencies and do almost nothing for the bass. (* Unless they are room sized)

 

[sumotan]

Thank OllBoll,
I prescribe to KISS principles in my set up so no tone controls, eq stuff & no preamp even.


Many thanks

 

[rayma]

I prescribe to KISS principles in my set up so no tone controls, eq stuff & no preamp even.

How about a parallel RC network in series with the signal to the volume control. The R sets the amount
of bass attenuation, and the C sets the frequency. Beats the heck out of hacking the speaker.

 

[sumotan]

Now that's something I'll give a thought about Rayma.
Will test out GM's suggestion first.

Thank you

 

[GM]

You're welcome! Guess I should note that 'shimming' it can often be just a paper thin gap around just a small portion if the driver's perimeter, especially if it's a vented alignment.

GM

 

[AllenB]

Are you using 1 amp or 2?

Can you only do 0 and -3dB bass (not in between, how is it switched?

Can you adjust bias continuously?

 

[sumotan]

Thank you kindly again GM. Will give it a shot.

 

[sumotan]

Hi Allen,
Yes I thought about it before you ask, unfortunately though Im using 2 amps but they're mono mono so no chance to play with bi amp.

Many thanks

 

[AllenB]

I also adjust levels (and gain structure) in some cases by putting an L-pad or other resistance at the front of an amp.

 

[sumotan]

Noted Allen thank you. Objective exercise for me is to increase esl panel output by 3db which will bring better sound then what I have now. Theoretically I should not have any issue just by setting woofer gain back to zero reduction in gain & this would match esl panels loudness.
Unfortunately because of listening space constrain, zero reduction equals more bass boom hence my search in trying to reduce bass output with reducing volume.
Right now it's sounding very good with woofer set at -3 db reduction but I know that I'll get better sound by increasing HV bias to esl panels.

Hope I explain it correctly.
Many thanks again

 

[AllenB]

I think I just gave some redundant advice there. However,

by setting woofer gain back to zero reduction in gain & this would match esl panels loudness.

How is this, is your speaker a bought one that has a switch? Maybe that can be tapped into and changed to any level you want.

 

[sumotan]

Hi Allen,
All advice is good advice even if it can't be applied to my situation it may be of use someday.
Well my ML speakers has a switch whereby you can reduce bass volume by -3dd or no reduction setting, right now Im listening on this setting. Just that I want the woofer to go louder without overwhelming my room, hence on original question of reducing bass without reducing the volume. If I can achieve this, then I'll be able to increase the esl panel output.

Many thanks again