I've had Sierra-2s for a few days and I'm struggling with the bass.

[porridge]

These things sound great on about 50% of tracks I play through them, but on the other 50% the bass is overwhelming and muddles the mix. These tracks are usually aggressive rock songs or electronic songs, but it can happen on more mellow songs too depending on the mix. (And electronic or aggressive songs can sound great, too, depending on the mix. "Alpha and Omega" by Boards of Canada has a very tight bass presentation that translates well through the speakers.)

It's not just a matter of volume. The bass is not only loud — it bloats the mix. Kick drums have a deep punch that I can feel in my chest, but I can't hear the definition of the mallet striking the drum head. I can't hear the metallic high-pitched finger sounds of a bass guitar, just the thumping lower frequencies. These low frequencies dominate the mix, veiling the higher frequencies and making the whole song sound mushy and formless.

I am willing to chalk a lot of this up to the room I'm in. It's a 14'x15' section of a larger room that has some walls pushing out in unfortunate places. There are hard wood floors and no rugs, yet. There's nothing on the walls and minimal furniture.

I am also willing to put some of the blame on the Denon AVR I have. I don't think an AVR was a great choice when I am primarily focused on using these to listen to music. (Movies and TV sound great through the speakers for the most part, but again the bass can be extreme to the point that it dominates the mix). But I've tried using various settings to mitigate the issue — Audyssey EQ, flat EQ, pure/direct mode, etc. Nothing seems to help.

Open to ideas. When everything aligns, these things sound amazing. Unfortunately most of the time they just leave me frustrated. I can EQ from the source but feel like I shouldn't have to do that with reference-quality speakers. Maybe that's the wrong attitude.