340s and Bass Question

[jerrymb]

I got my 340s yesterday morning. I hooked them up properly but I hear very little bass compared to other smaller speakers I've had. My receiver is set to flat as it always is and the speaker cables are hooked up correctly. I would have thought that with dual 6.5" woofers that the bass would be much lower than it is. Is this because there is no artificial bump in the bass like other speakers have? I hear bass but something sounds different. Maybe I'm just not hearing all the boominess that I've been used to?

[curtis]

Hard to say, but they definitely do not have an artificial bump anywhere in the FR.

How do the midrange and highs sound to you?

[jerrymb]

Hard to say, but they definitely do not have an artificial bump anywhere in the FR.

How do the midrange and highs sound to you?

The midrange and highs sound ok but the bass is anemic.

[curtis]

Do you still have the jumpers on the speaker terminals?

Speaker settings on the receiver is set to "large"/no sub?

[jerrymb]

Do you still have the jumpers on the speaker terminals?

Speaker settings on the receiver is set to "large"/no sub?

Jumpers are on. I'm using the top set of terminals. I have a stereo only receiver so there are no large settings.

[davef]

Jerry,

As I recall, you are upgrading from Axiom M3 speakers, correct? If yes, you should note that the M3's, by design, have a rather large 5dB bump in the 80-120Hz range. http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/me...ts/axiom_m3ti/

5dB is considerable and this makes the speaker sound quite warm. The 340 SE actually has deeper bass than the M3, but it is a flatter, more neutral response (truer to the source material) I certainly would not call the bass anemic by any means, it is just not boosted and this is what you have become used to listening too.

I would strongly recommend you give yourself several weeks of listening only to the 340's to get accustomed to their sound. After this, switch back to the M3's. You then might find the added warmth unnatural and annoying, or you might find you still prefer it.

If you have access to an audio test CD and SPL meter, run some test tones from 100Hz and down so you can see which speaker actually has deeper bass and which one is being more faithful to the source material.

Also, be sure the speakers are properly wired in phase (positive to positive, negative to negative)

Hope this helps!

[jerrymb]

I'm listening to Mark Knopfler now. The Ragpickers Dream. The bass is fine with this cd. Other cds though though don't seem to have as much bass. I guess they seemed to before because of the boosted bass on my other speakers. I don't have the Axiom M3s anymore. They went back.

And Nils Lofgren Acoustuic Live sounds incredible on the 340s!

[davef]

I'm listening to Mark Knopfler now. The Ragpickers Dream. The bass is fine with this cd. Other cds though though don't seem to have as much bass. I guess they seemed to before because of the boosted bass on my other speakers. I don't have the Axiom M3s anymore. They went back.

And Nils Lofgren Acoustuic Live sounds incredible on the 340s!

I should mention that most bookshelf speakers have some of that added warmth and this is done to make the speakers sound bigger than they really are. There is nothing wrong with this of course.

Nils Lofgren Acoustic Live is one of my personal favorites. The recording quality for a live performance is unreal. The 340's are very accurate loudspeakers and good recordings are going to sound very good, while bad recordings are going to sound bad. The 340's are very unforgiving.

Speaker positioning is also very important with regard to bass. If you have the ability to do so, take a digital picture of the front of your room and post it here. I might be able to make some recommendations.

After a few weeks, if you find that you enjoy the detail and accuracy of the 340's but still desire deeper bass and/or a slightly more forgiving top end, you might consider the Sierra-1.

[jerrymb]

Sorry that I chose the word anemic. It was a poor choice.