Bass boom?

[JJohnson]

I just purchased a new pair of rear-ported monitors (Usher X-19) and am very pleased with them with one footnote. In my room, I am only able to put them approximately 12" off of the back wall. For most music, this isn't an issue but for some bass heavy music, I feel that I am getting a mid-bass hump. Is there anything that can be done (sound dampening the back wall etc.) or am I just out of luck with this type of music (most often bass heavy jazz). I have B&W subwoofer that I haven't used since I purchased these speakers if that needs to be put into play.
Thanks for your advice.
Jeff

[Florian]

A very common problem with box speakers is that they load the room unequaly and some rooms enforce certain frequencys higher than others. Go to realtraps.com and download the Mode calculator and type in your room dimension. You can see what frequencys are enforced in your room.

My tip is to divide your room into equal parts. The even parts with give eforcement to the bass than the uneven parts. Read the Immedia setup procedure.

You can damped the walls and the first refection areas, also try some cushins etc in the corners.

-good luck

PS: Dont worry, it happens to 5000$ speaker too, and also to the 8000$ speaker. All suffer from poor rooms.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I just purchased a new pair of rear-ported monitors (Usher X-19) and am very pleased with them with one footnote. In my room, I am only able to put them approximately 12" off of the back wall. For most music, this isn't an issue but for some bass heavy music, I feel that I am getting a mid-bass hump. Is there anything that can be done (sound dampening the back wall etc.) or am I just out of luck with this type of music (most often bass heavy jazz). I have B&W subwoofer that I haven't used since I purchased these speakers if that needs to be put into play.
Thanks for your advice.
Jeff

Since you cannot relocate your speakers any further than 12" from the wall, I would use the sub, and redirect the bass to it. That way you can free the main speakers from reproducing bass signals that couples(typically below 80hz) with the corners behind it. That is the cheap, very workable way.

The second choice you have is to look into corner bass traps. These will dampen any corner reflections that boost the output in the upper to middle bass.Google aurelex, bass or corner traps, and that will lead to to some alternatives.

[toenail]

I have plugged the rear ports and blended with a sub with some success. Rear ports and walls/corners don't always mix well. Placement is the way to tune them, but since that option has been ruled out you may want to try the sub.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

A very common problem with box speakers is that they load the room unequaly and some rooms enforce certain frequencys higher than others. Go to realtraps.com and download the Mode calculator and type in your room dimension. You can see what frequencys are enforced in your room.

My tip is to divide your room into equal parts. The even parts with give eforcement to the bass than the uneven parts. Read the Immedia setup procedure.

You can damped the walls and the first refection areas, also try some cushins etc in the corners.

-good luck

PS: Dont worry, it happens to 5000$ speaker too, and also to the 8000$ speaker. All suffer from poor rooms.

I would not recommend any computerized room prediction software. There are so many areas these programs don't take into account, and in non rectangular rooms it is useless. They do not account for flexible walls, the air's effect on high frequencies, the dispersion pattern of the speakers, or account for any opening to other rooms.

[Florian]

It is only a guideline. Noone should take those numbers as a fact. But it worked in my room and is a great starting line.