Crap sound at 70-80hz lvl, on NAD 320Bee and B&W602 s3 ....

[ToddMorrill]

First off let me say I am not totally sure the frequency lvl. I really notice it when I am watching movies and a male actor with lots of bass in their voice speaks, I did some googling and 80hz is the bottom range of the male voice. Its almost like there is a bit of reverb / lack of tightness / over doing the bass at this lvl. I am not an expert on how to describe sonic qualities. One more thing I can feel the box vibrating when males speak / resonance....

I have b&w602s, as well as a NAD320 Bee Amp, any idea where this is coming from? I am in the process of adding a crossover at 70hz and a subwoofer, but not sure thats going to help..... might it? THoughts?

Also is there any app that does a realtime HZ / SPF reader thats any good i keep downloading crap iphone apps....

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

It’s most likely a combination of your speakers and/or their placement in the room, and the program material itself. It’s a known fact (to me at least) that male voices are often poorly EQ’d in program material.

I’m judging by your equipment list that you’re using a phone or computer as your program source? If so find some kind if parametric EQ program. Dial in a filter that about 1/3-octave (~4.5Q) wide, cut about 6 dB, then move the frequency setting back and forth between ~60-200 Hz while one of those annoying male-voice programs is playing. When you hit the offending frequency it will “magically” disappear.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Swerd]

Male voice with too much bass, is usually caused by speakers with incorrect bass tuning from the cabinet volume and size of the port tube. It usually is a deliberate choice of the speaker designers to tune the bass to be too hot. It also causes music in that bass range (such as electric bass guitar) to sound muddy. The B&W 602 is known to suffer some from this problem.

What you're doing with the sub woofer is probably the only way you can deal with that. Try 70 Hz or higher as a crossover point to see if you can minimize this or make it disappear. As a guess, I think you might have to go to about 80-100 Hz.

Wayne also pointed out speaker placement as a possible cause of this problem. Are your speakers inside a cabinet, on a bookshelf, or near walls or a corner? That can also cause bass to be overemphasized. If so, try temporarily moving them so they are further away from reflecting surfaces and see if that helps.