Mid/Bass bloat in Monitors

[polkfan38]

Just out of curriosity. Has anyone noticed a mid/bass bloat on Monitor 40s and 50s? My rough estimate is in the 100 Hz to maybe 400 Hz range. It seems that after the break in period, this has become very noticable. At least with mine. I have played with location to see if that was the cause. Nope. Same results. Even different rooms. I find it rather annoying depending on what music I am listening to. Any advice on how to correct this problem would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[steveinaz]

Are they spiked? maybe move them forward more---off the back wall?

You might experiment with plugging the rear ports.

[Glowrdr]

Can't say that I've had any issues. Not exactly sure what bass bloat would sound like, but I know I'm not having any issues. Do you have your speakers set full range, or have any added EQ/Enchancements that could be throwing things outta whack?

[Lietuvis91]

I bet it's the listening mode you are using or some other setting. Like maybe in the tone setting you have the bass turned up?

Also, if you are running the speakers in full range that could be the reason. Set them to small and cross over at 60 or 80hz and see how that helps.

what receiver are you using?

[sda2mike]

freshen the caps?

[Joe08867]

How did you play with placement? Just moving them left or right or putting them on a different wall? Or did you pull them away from the wall. My buddy has his 60's about a foot from the back wall and spiked.

I have heard that bloat you speak of and it is annoying. It seems to muffle the highs and make the lows thin. Almost like the speakers are being overdriven.

I would also look to see if you receiver has an eq setting at work that is messing up the sound.

[inspiredsports]

Can you share a bit about the room shape and surfaces (hardwood or carpet / paint or wallpaper / furnishings)? Also your listening position within the room.

[polkfan38]

As far as placement, Left. Right. 6 inches from the wall. 24 inches from the wall. Different rooms. I do notice some differences. Especially from distances from walls. No EQing going on. I think SDA2mikes idea is a little to radical for me at this point. Both my M40s and M50s exibit the same charactoristics so I can't believe it's a electronics issue inside the speaker. However, not impossible. The only differences between the two rooms I placed them is is the floor. One tile. One carpet. However, the tile floored room is about 80% covered with a rug.

[polkfan38]

One side note. I was using a 20 year old Pioneer reciever for both tests. I have some much newer Denon AVRs I can try out. You think the old Pioneer has seen better days?

[inspiredsports]

Need just a little more information.

Are the rooms square or rectangular? Are the speakers on the long or short wall? How far back is your listening position (expressed as a percentage of room depth)? Are tweeters at ear level?

[Lietuvis91]

This has to be related to settings... I've had everything from m50s to m70s and never experienced this "bloat", and have used these speakers an a number of differently shaped enviroments. This is normally not a characteristic of monitors, unless you are playing them too low or have the bass or some other setting way off.

Maybe I'm missing what exactly you mean by "bloat"?! Are you talking about some sort of "boominess"?

[tonyb]

Lots of variables here, and too little info. I feel as it may be a combination of things in the OP's case. The room for one, and placement. Maybe over dampened, too close to walls,sidewall, amount of furniture in the way, size of room, etc. The other has to do with settings in the receiver. Either way, more info is needed as boominess or bloat is not a characteristic of the speakers themselves.

[polkfan38]

What I mean by bloat is a kind of boominess in the frequencies I stated earlier. The rooms are rectangular of almost the same dimentions. 12 X 16. I move my LP around a bit and yes, tweeters were very close to ear level. The old pioneer does have a 5 band equalizer on it but, I usually have it set "flat". I can drop the 330 Hz band and the boominess does go away.
Both rooms are untreated for the most part. I have put the speakers on both the short and long walls.
I am just wondering if the resonance frequency of these two rooms are the cause?

[Erik Tracy]

I'd agree that its probably placement, room layout, and also listening spot as well.

Polkfan38- where is your listening spot - is it up against the back wall? If so, try to sit forward a couple of feet see if the 'bloat' drops off - you could be getting some rear wall re-inforcement of the bass.

Maybe you should try your Denon AVR if it has an auto-cal feature to run to do some room eq if moving the speakers away from the front wall and if moving your listening spot doesn't work either.

If none of that works - there are some sub eq devices that have gotten some good reviews which may cure your bass problems (for example the Antimode 8033 unit).

[polkfan38]

I've sat at the "38%" spot and that helps mildly. The best I have come to eliminating the problem is sitting at the "38%" spot and the rear of the speakers about 20 inches from the wall. The only problem with this is loss of space in the room! Them 50s are getting deep! I will hook them up to my Denon tonight and see if there is a difference. I'd hate to think my trusty Pioneer is shot!

[Erik Tracy]

I've sat at the "38%" spot and that helps mildly. The best I have come to eliminating the problem is sitting at the "38%" spot and the rear of the speakers about 20 inches from the wall. The only problem with this is loss of space in the room! Them 50s are getting deep! I will hook them up to my Denon tonight and see if there is a difference. I'd hate to think my trusty Pioneer is shot!

I wouldn't say that your Pioneer is 'shot' - rather that the Denon can possibly compensate for room anamolies by applying EQ that the Pio can't.

Everything matters - so solutions may involve several steps.

[thesurfer]

As far as the Monitor 40,s and even the Tsi 200,s Ive noticed at slightly higher volumes thy both tend to smear,, in other words they lose detail, and become somewhat less detailed, and accurate, I assume this has alot to do with the fact that there bookshelves, and have dual midbass drivers, this could be the bloating sound you speak of? as to me, they became boomy sounding at higher volumes.

[dorokusai]

This is common in many loudspeakers, not just the Polk MON series. There's a point where you're just trying to get too loud and it usually ends up sounding like crap.

Be easy on the volume knob.

It does tend to get a bit messy when driven hard but is moreso a reflection of equipment and/or ROOM in my experience. They don't sound the same at high volume on HK as opposed to Sony, for a generic example.

A cleaner input is a better output. Couple that with the fact you have noticed it, means you'll always notice it for now. I'd suggest some simple room treatments as in, just hang some blankets on the wall or curtains and see if the tonality changes. I know it sounds odd but the room has a serious effect on the performance of any speaker. You can also hang a blanket over, or in front of the speaker itself and see if it drops the edge from what you're hearing. That's the best way to learn about room interaction.

[Lietuvis91]

That makes sense... underpowered speakers do sound like crap, no matter what brand they are...

[inspiredsports]

What I mean by bloat is a kind of boominess in the frequencies I stated earlier. The rooms are rectangular of almost the same dimentions. 12 X 16. I move my LP around a bit and yes, tweeters were very close to ear level. The old pioneer does have a 5 band equalizer on it but, I usually have it set "flat". I can drop the 330 Hz band and the boominess does go away.
Both rooms are untreated for the most part. I have put the speakers on both the short and long walls.
I am just wondering if the resonance frequency of these two rooms are the cause?

That was my thought process. Depending upon where you are seated, untreated reflections from all 6 sides can either soak up or enhance certains frequencies.

[rebuy]

What I mean by bloat is a kind of boominess in the frequencies I stated earlier. The rooms are rectangular of almost the same dimentions. 12 X 16. I move my LP around a bit and yes, tweeters were very close to ear level. The old pioneer does have a 5 band equalizer on it but, I usually have it set "flat". I can drop the 330 Hz band and the boominess does go away.
Both rooms are untreated for the most part. I have put the speakers on both the short and long walls.
I am just wondering if the resonance frequency of these two rooms are the cause?

If you get rid of problem with EQ, isn't the problem solved?

[polkfan38]

Well, I think I solved my problem. Kind of. It was the rooms. I put them in a smaller room and the problem went away. Hooking them up to the Denon AVR didn't change things. Other than giving them more punch as there is a significant wattage difference! So now I have to deal with the rooms! Thanks guys!