Jesco Lohan (Acoustics Insider) explains WHY the room is critical to good sound

Camera: John Darko | Editor: John Darko
Your room is messing with the sound of your loudspeakers -- and you'd be surprised by just how much. Berlin-based studio acoustician Jesco Lohan takes us into the world of room acoustics to give us some pointers on how to make improvements.
Backstory:
darko.audio/2019/08/meridian-...
More info:
www.acousticsinsider.com/
#room #acoustics #audiophile
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[@Quantalume]

This is the best headphone sales pitch I've ever heard!

[@utkarshgupta137]

Now hear actual headphones for the best speakers sales pitch.

[@HiFiNi-TheDigitalScientist]

That being said headphones cannot give you that sense of space that a room can. Plus most Headphones only have one driver in them giving them many many limitations that loudspeakers can offer on performance and physically feeling sounds you cannot hear. Loudspeaker Hi-Fi is a completely different aspect to audio reproduction listening altogether. This is why many audiophiles own both types of rigs. 🔊💪😊👌🕪

[@bradt.3555]

I found that my being in the room affected the standing waves so I found my system sounds much better when I'm not in the room.

[@robertbierman8881]

Interesting thought. One question: how do you know if you aren't in the room?

[@TheRainbowPilot]

@@robertbierman8881 Hook, line, and sinker... it was a joke/jab at audiophiles. The room and speaker placement does have a huge effect on sound no doubt but I think Brad is just having a little fun.

[@AnDre-fw9ke]

the real question is: How does the standing wave know that you are not in the room!?! ;)

[@rb032682]

@Brad - Your standing wave issues are easy to fix. When you're in the room, don't stand up. The standing waves will go over your head because you are no longer standing.

[@estebannemo1957]

The ultimate tweek!

[@SteveGuttenbergAudiophiliac]

Great one! I would add two simple suggestions, get your speakers as far away from walls as possible, and get closer to the speakers. Both will minimize room effects, but difficult to implement.

[@maxrockbin]

Very true, but if you have a low frequency room mode where the dip happens to be where you sit, then this will reduce the problem a bit, but it will still be intolerable. I have this exact situation where I am very close to the speakers, but still needed MAJOR bass traps (e.g. 100+ lbs of rockwool) to bring things within 10db of flat. This will definitely help with the comb filter effects - unless your room is pretty small. Even then, floor reflections (or desk reflections in a studio) are going to be a prob.

[@FOH3663]

Indeed You're right it can be a challenge to implement but huge sonic rewards are to be had. Also if your space permits, it's advisable to sit in the front half of the room (viewing the speakers). Experimentation will be your guide (listening, or ideally measurement/software), but a good starting point for the LP off the front wall is ~38%. This suggested starting point is to find the least bad spot for modal resonances and the powerful acoustic distortions that plague bass articulation. Although they're huge, my Seaton Catalyst 3-way coaxial quasi point source mains help facilitate such midfield to near-field listening. Steve you and I discussed this a few months ago at Axpona. I appreciate you pointing out the benefits of bringing the speakers away from the boundaries and sitting somewhat closer to them. Even though all those room distortions still exist, sitting closer to your speakers tilts the relative balance of direct sound to room sound more in your favor.

[@Academicidiot]

Steve you need to learn to listen :P He spoke about more room than speakers at 4:25 and demonstrated distance effect at 5:12 in untreated room vs treated.

[@donr62]

Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac what if your room is very shallow and wide?

[@OrganNLou]

I agree, however having planar speakers complicates the matter as they propagate sound from the front and back. Being out from walls is very important as well as being farther away from the speakers.

[@GingerDrums]

Had this guy over at my studio, super down to earth, knows his stuff and very approachable as you can tell from this interview.

[@LuckyLambikins]

The eq boost getting cancelled by equal energy in the reflected wave pressure was a “mind blown” moment. Great info here. Thanks

[@sidvicious3129]

This is fabulous information and I have been telling people that your room is a component in and of itself and must be treated. Now the amount that is needed to spend on the room and the amount of panels needed is a surprise. This guys thought process on room treatment is outstanding. At my old house I had a dedicated room that I fought with but made compromises to get what I got. At my new place the room is much different and so is the sound. Thanks for getting this information out John, this type of content is what separates you from the rest.

[@jwbrook]

Agh!! I wish I had heard this 20 years ago! I knew the room had an effect on my sound but never really appreciated how much. Really going to change my thinking at this point and work on the room significantly before I go spend money on new speakers. Thank you for this! Priceless!

[@wilfredswinkels]

What a joy it is, listening to a guy who really knows his stuff :-) :-)

[@soulshinobi]

The quality of the interviewees is always top notch. It's criminal this channel doesn't have 10x the subscribers.

[@krazydiamnd8204]

That's becoz not a lot of ppl iare in hq audio. It's a niche market.

[@assai74]

He is so right. I own my mainspeaker since 1998 and moved about 8 times in different rooms with different sizes, proportions, shapes and materials for walls and floor. Boy was I diappointed with some places, no matter how I treated them. On the other hand in the right room my speakers sat in and the positioning was right it was amazing, what you could enjoy! And the funny thing is, I was not trapped in buying new speakers over the years. They improved with the roomtreatment and better apmlification.

[@artemscherer]

The best video about room treatment on KZbin by far.

[@gustavofischer9657]

I managed to place a pair of speakers in the room in such a fashion as to fill it with sound completely. I blindfolded a friend and asked him to step into the room and point to the direction of each speaker, and he wasn't able to no matter where he stood, as the sound was the same all around. To me, that was perfection.

[@brightondude9327]

I’m delighted to see this video about room treatments. I believe that a modest system in a well treated room sounds better than a “hi end” system in an untreated room. I have treated two rooms myself and the benefits were enormous. The treatments have to be done intelligently. Acoustic treatments are very interesting.

[@isaacsykes3]

Easily one of the most informative videos, that I've come across...thank you for this. My favorite part was "hold on", and the 3 big wins,speakers not included. Great video.

[@undress62]

Amazing interview! I’m very interested in those topics. Many audio reviewers lacks in that area. You see some talk about the “tweeter material sounds that way” or “silver cables” and “day and night different” and you can hear the massive reverberation when they speak in the listening room! Like a sommelier tasting wine in a sewer. 😂 Great work man. You are one of the best!

[@Krilin84]

Great video and interview! Very interesting stuff! I'd love to see more coverage of this topic!

[@MartinHAndersen]

Darko I can't thank you enough. GREAT interview

[@Neeleshh]

WOW! Such perfect information condensed. I have been battling the issue for some time now and now I think I have just the basis I need to tackle it all. Thank you both so much!

[@Cheetorblz]

As someone just starting a journey, this was hugely valuable. This tells me to worry much more about the room than all the minutiae. His statement about 10k on room fir 2k speakers was a bomb blast. This will now be my ficus of learning for a while. Thanks and kudos!

[@Finn-McCool]

Truly good information. My mancave is paneled with oak and has a 7 foot drop ceiling. It has shelves of the nik nakkery that has been accumulated along life's journey. It has a Sony STR ZA5000ES processor. It has 6 Polk Audio RT55s, 1 Polk Audio CS400, 4 JBL PB10 subs and 4 Polk Audio M5s as front and rear heights. Making a simple and inexpensive 7.4.4 room. Obviously everyone is impressed when they hear the room. What really taught 'me' something in this video was the fact that we get better at hearing our environment over time. Truly a revelation. Thank you for the time and effort of making this video.

[@stevep2111]

Another great eye opener John thank you so much!!

[@jeffsloane8628]

What a fantastic demonstration of room affect on sound! I think what we need as a follow up, and Audioholics kind of did this, is a series on how to improve the sound of your room. So topics like 1) Room orientation based on dimensions 2) Speaker placement 3) Listening location 4) Furniture selection and placement 5) Floor treatment "Get a Rug" 6) Wall/ceiling treatments (Acoustic panels as art, book shelf placement, plants, heavy blinds, etc. Each episode should have some measurements to quantify how the room response changed as well as a subjective report. I think folks could pick through this list and decide which segments they are willing, or able, to accomplish to increase the enjoyment of their listening.

[@hwccheng]

Best discussion on this topic I ever heard

[@AndysTechTone]

Another great video John! Loads of useful information. Thanks!

[@proletaire6442]

You do excellent interviews. Always super interesting. More please!

[@hukl3945]

Very good interview - here a few useful links: * This is a room mode calculator so you can see what problems your room has. If you hover over the notes they play back so you can walk around in the room and hear them for yourself. It also shows between which walls the modes exist: trikustik.at/amroc/index.php?l=600&w=453&h=350&r60=0.6 * This is a loudspeaker / listening position calculator to find the best listening spot. You get to see the theoretical frequency response, you can adjust the speakers, their hight and position and see how the response improves: www.hunecke.de/en/calculators/loudspeakers.html * Lastly you can use either Fuzzmeasure or REW to measure your listening spot and try to apply suitable treatment or even EQ to fix all remaining problems.

[@englishsteve1465]

hukl - Thanks a lot for the links, very usefull.

[@alexsoto5800]

Hukl- thanks so much for this info!

[@crushingbelial]

I really enjoyed this video and learned so much from it. Excellent idea/interview John.

[@hifiandmtb]

Another terrific video, John!

[@epi2045]

Awesome video!!! Thank you. The room setup and speaker placement is equally as important as the equipment.

[@seanmangan2769]

Very valuable information here, thank you!! Kind of explains why I like nearfield listening, and headphones, so much.

[@pioferro]

Excellent video!!! The room is the most important component...

[@markgoldstein3933]

wow this was the best video on room treatment I've ever watched . thanks for the great sensible approach to this .

[@johnkennett7105]

This is one of the best videos I've watched on hifi recently - the Rega, Naim and PMC forums to which I subscribe all ask somewhat empty questions about this cartridge, or that black box, or whether a £1000 cable can "brighten" the sound - when the room is as big a factor in the overall sound. Part of the reason, IMHO, that this hobby is so interesting is because of my room, my ears, my "system" and my musical preferences - not whether failing to listen to hi-res music is an audiophile faux pas :-)

[@alext2933]

What an insightful piece of content John. Supremely interesting and useful to just about everyone interested in musical reproduction. Keep up the great work.

[@przemekprzemkowy9035]

Hi, Sorry to say John, but... this seems to be THE MOST INFORMATIVE VIDEO on your channel ! This is the essence of this video and whole idea of hi-fi equipment: JOHN: You confirmed pretty much what I've been thinking for the last few years. Number one, most audiophiles, most people listening at home do not listen in a dedicated treated room. They're listening in their lounge room. That lounge room is inherently compromised by its dimensions, therefore it's almost like there's a glass ceiling that the room applies on any item so no matter how much money you throw on your speaker, you're gonna get to a point where it's just dead money. JESCO: Yeah, that's right JOHN: I would suggest that glass ceiling is pretty damn low JESCO: Yeah, you wouldn't expect it to be so low Cheers, Przemek P.S. F&^*k room acoustics- I'm going back to listening of my audiophile USB printer cable and power cables- I've spent so much money on them, so they MUST improve the sound of my hi-end system :D :D :D

[@11clouds]

As a producer, these are my favorite, back to fundamentals

[@andyrobertking]

Big fan of channel and big believer in music 1st. I don't normally comment on videos but I enjoy music and used to work in low end recording studios myself acoustics was something I studied. Budget was limited so it was lots of listening and spending wisely. Happy to share some findings from years of mixing and recording in very different rooms.. Take it or leave it. Personally I wouldn't have a defuser at the side. I would place mine behind me simply to remove long wave nodes my thinking is If the point of your setup is direct sound don't have a reflective surface either side of your ears which is designed to scatter different frequencies in different directions. You won't get rid of the reflections completely with foam but your at least make them uniform and your brain will do the rest. Types of wood ( it my look pretty) but I can tell what type of softwood he has in that room by the sound of that room ( there is too much, causing a distinct lower mid reverberation) You can ruin a room with too much acoustic foam. As different density and thickness absorb different frequencies at different rates. I.e. If you only buy 2" foam your suck the mids and highs dry and the bass will take over. Look at the manufacturer graphs. If you've had to put a sock in the bass reflex port of your speaker they are to close to your walls or your rooms not big enough for the speaker. You've also completely changed the frequency response of that very well designed speaker. Rooms are never as wet as you think they are . There are lots of soft furnishings in houses often these have an impact on the sound. Fabric curtains fabric sofas will absorb sound sometimes as well as an expensive bass trap will. (Avoid shiny fabric these often reflect high frequency) If your placing foam or speakers and then go back to your listening poation Don't listen to the room with your eyes open, sounds strange but if your eyes are closed your much more focused. Hopefully someone will find this useful. I am no expert but always best to use your ears and your own judgement and remember if you've been in a room more than 40 mins your brain has already mapped that room out and it much harder to hear the difference already.

[@lewbarrett]

I'm a retired pro audio professional. I subscribed to your channel on the strength of this video. Honestly I've been enjoying all the content. Excellent channel, good work!

[@kevinpi9828]

This was an excellent video. Very informative, and easily accessible.

[@petervansa2477]

first and complete overview about acoustic treatment - Thank you! Learnt a lot, you ensured me about certain aspects, and change me on others. Again, Thank You!

[@JasonandRachelOlson]

Brilliant! Thanks for this information packed interview.

[@blakenewton7972]

This is my favorite article about stereo rooms. It's brilliant

[@mikeharkins2985]

Jesco did a great job of explaining many of the issues due to the acoustic conditions in a listening room. I was surprised to hear him say the reverberation time in his studio was only .2 seconds. I looked it up and reverberation time is the time it takes for the sound to drop by 60 dB. This room is practically dead. Under such conditions, you would still have modal effects at the lower frequencies, needing bass absorption, but the highs would not be subject to much spatial information transmitted to the listener. In other words, the sense of space would be nearly gone. That said, stereo itself provides some spatial information, but under such conditions, it would be mostly limited to the spatial information conveyed by the direct sound from the speakers, thus giving one a sort of headphone effect. That might be suitable for detailed, somewhat sterile, listening. And in Jesco's line of work, that is exactly what he needs. But for pleasurable listening, I would probably prefer a little more reverberation, maybe about 1/2 second. Jesco didn't mention the effect of irregular room shapes. I'm fortunate that in the modern style home I live in, there are many angles, two different heights of sloped ceiling, large hallways and staircases. carpeted and uncarpeted floors, near and far walls to my left and to the rear of the speakers. The only real concern I have is making sure my listening position is right. Yes, there are bass nodes, but none that are very objectionable, unless I position my head too close to the back wall. I have not added any specific room treatments, except for a tapestry rug that helps reflections to the right of me. Under these conditions, I'm sure room treatment would help some, but I suspect the results would be small.

[@jasonmichaels4791]

Thanks you gents - great interview.

[@dell177]

Excellent information that shows how important the room is.

[@jameschant2740]

Makes perfect sense to invest in room treatment. The science behind it backs it up ! Plus aesthetics with room treatment as a bonus ! Budgeting 10% of the value of the stereo seems like a good starting point, much like cables.

[@AMBrikaer]

Very educating and helpful! Yet another video that just might get the feet of some "audiophiles" back to earth :) Thank you very much Jesco and John!

[@cesarjlisboa7586]

Great explanation about room size, and influence on audition. Keep publishing..

[@niekosify]

Thanks for the great interview, very interesting and really makes me think about how music might sound in an optimised room. And makes me want to build a dedicated music room 😁

[@coletrain4121]

Thank you so much. I’ve been looking into the room but finding reliable intel has been the tricky bit.

[@Jacob011]

This conversation is super valuable. The audio professionals are such recluses otherwise.

[@austenbladenn7266]

Genuinely fascinating.

[@cyclingjunkie23]

Great video, thanks Dar.

[@cyber.purgatory]

Brilliant content, cheers!

[@LonelyRavenProductio]

I've been saying this for years, but people would rather use magic blocks of wood and $2000 cables. (shrug).

[@psyysp171]

Very interesting! Thank you for the vid!

[@aarneuuk9601]

Fantastic, thank you!

[@ajwise121]

Very timely and super interesting. Great information from “Les Grossman” look-a-like, and the best discussion on room treatment I’ve seen.

[@cillyede]

Very interesting and helpful, danke.

[@MrWindmad]

So interesting and valuable!!

[@richardcarmichael8915]

Great video. Very informative.

[@iyadoki]

catastrophic! on the good way :) i feel it now, now how speakers really sounds in a room… after this video! thank you very much for that really really awsome interview

[@fabco7787]

Enfin quelqu'un de sérieux sur le sujet. Merci !

[@cornerliston]

Very good one John. Unusually transparent and clear info from Jesco. Big thanks to him. One thing you could have mentioned is digital room tuning/calibrations. Such as Sonarworks. For people listening all in the computer and have no possibility to change the room, that could be a decent solution. Personally not using Sonarworks software but Genelec GLM monitors with dsp based calibration, but the principle is the same. Although, room treatment should always come first.

[@stephenrichards5869]

Thank you for this. I also wonder how we choose where to listen. I spent time putting together a 5.1 system around the tv, but found I really like to listen in the kitchen when my wife is watching tv. I had a neighbor who listened in his car. I think the sociology/anthropology?of this is fascinating

[@mikehanks1399]

Wow. Good stuff. Profound, if the truth be told. And it's truth I have experienced. My room has always been the main impediment to getting quality sound. Obviously, one might go the extra mile (could go the extra mile) in a studio set up. In a home environment, where most of us have sound rooms that are far from dedicated, treatments like the ones he showed and employed may not be possible or practical. And that's a shame considering how much money many of us put into our systems. Seems we've all put the cart before the horse. One of your best videos yet. There's nothing like an expert sharing his expertise.

[@fabianabarca]

Great interview! Very knowledgeable guy

[@jfbaquero]

Freaking awesome and enlighting! Excelent content.

[@gainstage4497]

Thanks for that video, after a long day arguing and adjusting a large professional sound system for my days work I feel vindicated for caring.

[@Billfish57]

GIK is the place for panels, they will answer your questions with more than sales talk. No mater how much you measure and calculate, it still comes down to trial and error to get the room right. My ideal listing is about 6 ft behind my couch but the couch is perfect where it is for movies. I wish my couch was on rails for easy moving back and forth.

[@samuelsalins8309]

Great time...👌

[@ayellowbeard]

As someone who has a history of chasing the upgrade "dragon" this is good information and confirmation of what I suspected to be true but just didn't have the experience to know for certain what I should focus on.

[@paulhodgson8894]

Absolutely marvellous video. Big fan of the room-first approach. My studio / 2 channel room has lots of treatment and sounds great. Home cinema relies on Dirac in the NAD t758, which is excellent for reflections and some bass control.

[@giorgioisgaming5814]

Awesome interview! Very much appreciated and very „enlightening“ 👍🏻

[@josephsilva4048]

Great explanation

[@asilva781]

Great vid. I learn a lot.

[@MrGreenAKAguci00]

That high ground reference... R/prequelmemes is proud. Also, Yes. Room and speakers are like marriage. When people ware asking me what has biggest impact on sound in a room I always said that with sound everything has impact on everything else, every single material is either adding reflections or absorbing, or both. Atmospheric pressure has impact on how sound travels, temperature and humidity also have impact and can change EQ of the room and these are trivial, the room modes and resonances are the worst. That's why after buying speakers one should place them where they are going to be and measure one at a time from a listening point, or area, After that, acoustically adapt the room and than measure again and continue.

[@djdeckstar]

Hopefully this video will convince my partner that I can get a dedicated music room in our next place

[@Zwakkie05]

I've already done that ☺️👍🏻

[@miguelbarrio]

Personally, I am willing to give up some sound quality in order not to be in a separate room.

[@LancePhillip212]

'WAF'?

[@WiiNV]

👗👠👡👢👚 No dedicated Wardrobe! L😂L

[@emreisiklar]

Or a nice of headphone!

[@michaelhametner9780]

Thanks so much John!!! Very informative and helpfull. Maybe you could do a video in the future about different types of acoustic panels or other wall treatment such as these stripes of wood which might not be perfect but are a lot easier to incorporate in a living room environment

[@fernandocalderon793]

Great talk

[@Arsjonisteman]

Ofcourse you decide to upload a video with this title just after I've bought a pair of LSX's (that your review helped me convince to buy). Anyhow this video has some good points right from the start. I also 'suffer' from the more/less bass in a certain part of the room, but for me it's really about the distance from the back wall I am sitting. Luckily my couch is in the sweet spot for me.

[@djhmax09]

Doesn't the DSP that the lsx have compensate ever so slightly?

[@MaZEEZaM]

How interesting, Thanks very much for the video, cheers from Australia :D btw, its great to see Australian RODE equipment being used.

[@joaohenriquegrossisadjunio9039]

Thanks for the video, lots of information here. An important tip is missing: the influence of those little plants on the standing waves.

[@RonGallant]

Great demo

[@sickjohnson]

It's crazy how much a room impacts sound when considering how much an improvement a good audio system vs. a bad one is if what Jesco Lohan says is true, 50-70 percent! Awesome video John, what a great guest to have. Personally I have always wanted a dead room like a recording studio vs. a balanced room...now I'm not so sure. Makes me wonder how effective all these new mic sampling room equalizing systems really are too.

[@rb032682]

@C - I use three room/spkr equalizing systems. dbx DriveRack, IK ARC2.5, and Sonarworks Reference 4.4. They are all very effective. Without a decent level of acoustic treatment, the room/spkr correction systems still work, but will not provide as much audio bliss compared to a room with treatment + active correction.

[@planchernewfinish]

Great vidéo!

[@functionaldoc5054]

Great video and shows me that DSP active speakers with both frequency and time correction is the future . If want great listening room it must be dedicated and adds a lot to cost. I will stick with headphones until Active DSP speakers come down under 12-25 K price point. Hope to see you John at RMAF.

[@treyhorn5645]

Fabulous content! I shared it on my FB page. ..

[@FSXgta]

You seem to be listening to music on youtube, and call that playlists"lossless" but KZbin audio quality is terrible. KZbin does normalization, cut of frequency above 16khz

[@michelhaineault6654]

Best of the best ! Merci infiniment.But good acoustic treatment and how to achieve this still continue to be a mystery

[@miguelbarrio]

Great vid. Thx. Wondering if you have any suggestions for rooms where you don't really want to put room treatments that stand out - are there any good pointers in terms of placing furniture, plants, etc? In particular, any good solutions for corners short of large bass traps? Obviously not as effective as acoustic treatment but better than nothing I suppose.

[@MB-js3tf]

Great video, if you could only have 2 smallish screens, would this be enough of an impact on sound? Where is the most bang for buck placement wise? Behind speakers or first reflection

[@debontehond22]

Great video @john darko. Did you have him analyse your listening Space? It would be very interesting to see u ow your space can be treated.

[@gooshie3]

Great vid!

[@pappakilo3965]

In the 1980s a guy I knew tried around 12 pairs of excellent expensive speakers but said they were all terrible. I visited his house once and found the floor of his music room just bounced, squeaked and generally sounded hollow. He refused to spend any money on getting it sorted

[@MarcoVialeBakmaind]

Thank you John, this guy was really helpful. Even I’m a sort of a pro aware of all this kind of problems, I’ve my own studio acoustically treated by my self, it was really insight-full. Of course the primary insight here for people starting hifi trip is don’t waste money in equipment if this new toys plays in a non treated shit room.

[@33rower]

I have a small ~9' X 10' room. I hung felt on the walls and it has a wall to wall carpet; the ceiling is wood. Total "treatment" cost $250. I had a pair of KRK 6000s and a KRK S10 woofer from 1993, a Hafler p1500 amp and a Denon CD player with Alpha signal processing (Total amount actually paid ~$2,400). The acoustics were so good, that the sound transition from headphones to speakers, was almost seamless. The headphones were Beyrdynamic 9000 (I believe). Point being, you don't need to spend a lot if you have a small room available. I now have a setup worth a lot more in an oblong living room with hardwood floors and a glass wall. It doesn't sound good unless the volume is low and you're head is directly in front of the speakers. Looking forward to one day moving everything back into that small room. In the meantime, I'll use a good set of headphones.

[@xro1589]

As of today 19.08.2019, 4 deaf people clicked on this great video. Thank you so much for all the insight, detailed info and all the great ideas that came to me from the video.

[@yaniv-nos-tubes]

great video! we need to know more about this like where to begin? first how to measure the room properly ,than how to address the problems. the best way to listen is through headphones, you can upgrade to dekoni pads (70$) or some fancy cable(100-200$) and your'e done!

[@alexweisstrost]

Excellent! In fact a good Headphone and ampli is the best for a good home listening

[@ShellstaTube]

I wouldn't say 'fact' or 'best'. Headphones are a different style of listening and an option according to time and place (situation).

[@EpicureMammon]

My room is long and somewhat narrow, and without even trying, my listening position ends up in the middle of the room. I can't move any closer or farther back (easily) without really janking up the whole space. It's maddening because I know I'm at the nexus of standing waves at 70 and ~120hz. I thought there was something wrong with my speakers until I took them to my parents' house and set them up in their oddly-shaped finished basement. They sounded amazing! I sort of wanted to move in just for the sound quality. Now, when I look at houses, I'm looking for the perfectly weird room :)