SteveC
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I got my HDT's a year or more ago. When I first used them them with a SE84C+ in a large living room, I appreciated the clarity, but I found them lacking bass and too bright at first. I was pushing the SE84C+ into distortion to get the loud volume I wanted also.
When new, I remember them being so bright, that I had to toe them out to cut some of the highs. This mellowed out over time.
The bass seemed lacking too, but I was accustomed to my Hammer Dynamics (12" driver from ~35 up to 10k supposedly + a tweeter for the highest octave). These speakers had lots of bass, and a clean midrange... and most importantly, I was used to them. I tried some poor mans measuring. Using SPL meter and tone generator, I set 80db levels at 1khz. Then I measured each octave... 20hz, 40hz, 80hz, 160hz, and so on. Plopped them in a spreadsheet and graphed them. Both speakers had the same large hills and valleys in thier response curves which I attribute to room modes (no room treatment). In general, the response curve of the Hammer Dynamics tilted down and tilted up for the HDT's (from left to right). This was all when they were new.
I got a Torii MkIII later and was happy to put power into the HDT's. I used the treble cut to tame the highs, and I generally kept the bass controls in the middle. I change these periodically for the hell of it and notice that I don't actually need the treble cut. That bright harshness has mellowed out and is gone.
I do notice that when I switch back to other speakers, like the Hammers, I hear tons of muddy "boxy" bass, and the midrange is just missing or muffled. Every single time I entertain another speaker, I miss the clarity of the HDT mids,.... immediately.
I listen to all kinds of music including electronic music. So I put a sub on the torii and leveled it with the spl meter and tone generator. so, it's really just extending the bottom octave, not adding a 20~50hz bump. The sub has a remote so I can disable it on the fly. When listening to rock, acoustic, 'normal' music, I can't really hear the sub on or off. I barely hear the 'body' of the bass thin a bit. When listing to electronic music that purposefully plays in the 20s, then it's a night and day difference.
I don't remember when or how they broke in, I just know that they did, and they have plenty of bass for 'normal' music. and they have a clarity that it appears I can't live without.
Some day I'll have a dedicated room and play with treatments (I took my speakers to a relatives house once and they sounded a lot more bassy n their room)
SteveC
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