# Taming Bass Response of Front Stage



## mosconiac (Jan 31, 2009)

I built & installed Murphyblaster CAOW1's for the front stage of my modest home theater. They are mounted on the front wall to either side of my 50" plasma TV. I know this is not the best mounting option, but one I'm forced to employ due to WAF.

My issue is bass response of those speakers. From the crossover point (80Hz) on up for the first two octaves, I have a rather lumpy response. The rest of the FR is very good. In fact, these same FR irregularities were evident during my experimentation with stand-mounting the speakers in front of the wall, so I attribute the problem to the room, not the compromised mounting technique.

In order to tame the bass, I will obviously need to invest in some acoustic treatment. Unfortunately, I've REALLY pushed my luck with WAF, so I need a rather clandestine approach.

Fortunately, I have a few spots I could use that will not cause undue WAF-loss. These are corner treatments behind the chairs & above our heads as shown below. I've included a floor plan of our room for your reference. The top half of the illustration depicts the view-point from the area of the plasma TV. I forgot to depict the equipment rack. It is located in the corner formed by the TV wall & the bay window wall (lower-left corner in illustration).

My questions are:
1) Will the lower (wing wall) corner treatments have meaningful effect on the bass lumpiness?
2) Will the upper (header) corner treatment have meaningful effect on the bass lumpiness?
3) Will the upper treatment be full-length or is there a better layout (2 short ones in the corners only....)? Maybe just triangular traps?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

The seating looks awfully far back in the room but may not be an issue due to the opening.

Most likely, while not wall mounting specifically, it's the proximity of the speakers to the wall behind them that's causing the issues (SBIR specifically). That's only going to be fixed by:

- Moving them farther from the wall (not likely)
- Treating behind and around them to minimize the close wall reflection in the bottom end.

Bryan


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