I have been busy matching my 8D to my 5Bs.  I have found out some things and have some questions. 

1) I have downloaded some test tones where an individual calls out the frequency as that frequency is playing.  His voice is purposely monotone and always at the same volume.  It does the frequencies from 20 to 200Hz, 10Hz at a time.  I am crossing using my AVR at 100Hz.  The crossover is perfect with no indication of the volume varying in any of the frequencies around 100Hz.  However at 170Hz the volume noticeable goes up and even more so at 180Hz, levels off at 190Hz and appears to be dropping at 200Hz.  I found this interesting in that I had noticed this all along but thought it was my particular non optimal placement and was trying to work around this by fashioning foam port plugs.  This indeed was helping the peak but seemed to be chocking the mid frequencies a bit.  I down loaded the 5B frequency graphs and found one that showed the floor effect with a sharp trough leading up to a significant peak right at 180Hz. 

Is there a strategy to combat this floor effect?  I did not notice this on my previous stand mounted monitors.  It did have an unusual design though in that the front sloped back pointing upwards and about 20 degrees or so.  I assumed this was to help time align the 1 in tweeter and the 6.5 in woofer.  Is it possible tilting the speakers back a little will have some effect on the floor effect?  Is the floor effect from the woofer/midrange driver or from the port, or both?

2) Does the bass tone control get applied to the subwoofer output on a typical AVR?

3) I was playing with the Low Bass enhancement feature of the 8D with these test tones playing and could not detect any changes.  What should I expect from it?

Cheers

Hey Russ,

 Do you have carpet down in this area? What floor material do you have? Is the room more or less enclosed (three or more full walls?)

Caleb Denison:

Hey Russ,

 Do you have carpet down in this area? What floor material do you have? Is the room more or less enclosed (three or more full walls?)

 

Yes the living area has carpet but there is also large surface area coffee table just a few feet in front of them.  They are also somewhat in a corner area.  The room starts with a 8 foot ceiling going up to about 15 ft then coming striaght down to 8 ft again when the kitchen starts.  I talked to Hicks late Friday and told him I would move them to where their final resting place will be and experiment with them.  What I found was that they are somewhat sensitive to the distance from the back wall.  I experimented with them and found that about 2 ft worked well.  They still have a peak at around 180 Hz but it is tamed some.  I am not using a SPL meter and maybe my old ears are a bit more senisitive there.  I am not use to ported speakers but understand how this could have a large impact.  Thanks

Cheers