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What's the best way to battle ear fatigue?


audiowarrior

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Surround Set-up
- R-51M 5.1 Home Theater System
 - Includes (1 Pair) R-51M, (1) R-52C, (1 Pair) R-41M, (1) R-100SW

Receiver
Denon x3500H

Summary
Played Game of Thrones last night and my group was very satisfied. They experienced no ear fatigue. However, I have very sensitive ears, and I was miserable. I don't think the problem are the speakers -- it's got to be the room -- it's filled with wood panels and wood floors. Lots of hard surfaces that I can not cover.

Question
What's the best way to warm the speakers even more? I'm hoping to reduce the frequency before it bounces around the room? I heard people add window screens and tissue paper in front of their tweeters

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Absorption in key areas (reflection points, bass traps) around your room. Google absorption/diffusion for critical listening-home theater rooms and you'll find a ton of info.

I implemented absorption in my room for several years......but the real improvement was when I combined the right amount of diffusion with the right amount of absorption. It wasn't until that point that my system was truly contained and sounded it's best.

Ethan Winer, GIK Acoustics, ATS Acoustics and many others offer free advice. You'll really want to follow through on this. It's worth it if hi-fidelity means anything to you.[emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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6 hours ago, Tony Whitlow said:

Turn it down

 

This was my first gut response. I'll have words with Tony later about using my brand of snark..

 

But seriously, help us understand how low you were listening - and please don't us what number your receiver displayed because it's not a universal value.

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About  the only time I get ear fatigue is if

I'm listening to bad Bob Dylan recordings.

If you get it from good recordings your system is set up wrong.

I can listen all day and not get "Ear Fatigue", just great sounds. 

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8 hours ago, Tony Whitlow said:

Turn it down
 

 

I would agree with that. It works for me when listening music.

I also have problems with room acoustics, which I can not help unless doing extensive diffusion.

So I try to listen at the lowest level that still provide for most of music information. This is also the level that provide for best music dynamics and lessen the ear fatigue.

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15 hours ago, Thaddeus Smith said:

 

This was my first gut response. I'll have words with Tony later about using my brand of snark..

 

But seriously, help us understand how low you were listening - and please don't us what number your receiver displayed because it's not a universal value.


I had my volume at -10.db (Volume 70)

For Denon this means: "A newly installed receiver un-calibrated will have a volume range of -80.5 dB to +18 dB. -80.5 dB is almost a full mute, where +18 dB is the maximum possible volume output. Once your system is calibrated, 0 dB should provide you with full output from the amplifiers, meaning all other levels are relative to the loudest possible value (0 dB) and thus are expressed as a negative value. (ie: -20 dB) 0 dB on the receiver scale represents "reference" level and is arbitrary but is a well-known convention."

Here are 3 photos of my rears and front channel speakers: https://imgur.com/a/dcl4ecu

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1 minute ago, Thaddeus Smith said:

Pull our your sound meter (or at least install one of the free apps) and tell us that reading from your listening position, when listening at the levels you're describing. My gut reaction, however, is still to turn it down.

or...get heritage speakers

 

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22 hours ago, audiowarrior said:


Summary
Played Game of Thrones last night and my group was very satisfied. They experienced no ear fatigue. However, I have very sensitive ears, and I was miserable. I don't think the problem are the speakers -- it's got to be the room -- it's filled with wood panels and wood floors. Lots of hard surfaces that I can not cover.

Question
What's the best way to warm the speakers even more? I'm hoping to reduce the frequency before it bounces around the room? I heard people add window screens and tissue paper in front of their tweeters

Fix the room first and you most likely won't have to mess with the speakers.

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On 4/29/2019 at 3:36 PM, audiowarrior said:

Surround Set-up
- R-51M 5.1 Home Theater System
 - Includes (1 Pair) R-51M, (1) R-52C, (1 Pair) R-41M, (1) R-100SW

Receiver
Denon x3500H

Summary
Played Game of Thrones last night and my group was very satisfied. They experienced no ear fatigue. However, I have very sensitive ears, and I was miserable. I don't think the problem are the speakers -- it's got to be the room -- it's filled with wood panels and wood floors. Lots of hard surfaces that I can not cover.

Question
What's the best way to warm the speakers even more? I'm hoping to reduce the frequency before it bounces around the room? I heard people add window screens and tissue paper in front of their tweeters

Lol play quieter music or get noise cancelling headphones

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Two suggestions:

 

Run Audyssey. By default it rolls off the HF of all speakers.  My Marantz 6011 gives me the option of running that curve or running the curve by-passing the roll off on the L/R.

 

Don't point the tweeters directly at your ears.  Toe them out, or toe them sharply in so the tweeters criss cross in front of your ears.

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Jam a ping pong ball in the tweeters. (That one still cracks me up.....mostly because I tried it.....but don't tell anyone).

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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7 hours ago, wvu80 said:

Two suggestions:

 

Run Audyssey. By default it rolls off the HF of all speakers.  My Marantz 6011 gives me the option of running that curve or running the curve by-passing the roll off on the L/R.

 

Don't point the tweeters directly at your ears.  Toe them out, or toe them sharply in so the tweeters criss cross in front of your ears.

 

23 hours ago, MetropolisLakeOutfitters said:

EQ helps, a house curve in general where you slope down the top end and/or a little notch around 3-5 khz helps quite a bit.  Audyssey pro and the new user definable curves in the audyssey consumer has these options for a reason.  


Hey guys,

1. I already have Audyssey MultEQ XT32 Reference set. Is Audyssey Flat better for movies and music?

2. Just curious, what does 'rolling off high frequencies' even mean in terms of sound? I still get the klipsch quality sound right?


3. Should I turn Dynamic EQ Off?

Edited by audiowarrior
additional question
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