isn't there a small Focal Utopia that would be acceptable?

Ah, you mean the Thumbelina Utopias?

isn't there a small Focal Utopia that would be acceptable?

Indeed!

These will fit on your desk, won't they?

Bah. I'm not so happy with them now that I'm listening to them all day. There is a real lack of treble and some serious mid-bass bloom that's downright annoying. They're still workable until something better comes along, but the search continues. If you have any more ideas........

I've been using SRS iWOW for Mac iTunes since the beginning, which helps with the frequency response in the A2 noticeably. It fixes the highs and the mid-bass bloom, and puts some real depth into the music (outside of the speakers even).

It's too bad that suggestion is useless for vicki, given that the only source she can use in the office is her ipod.

EQ?

Tannoy Autograph Mini?

isn't there a small Focal Utopia that would be acceptable?

I believe it's way over the budget?

http://www.americansound.com/pdfs/diablo-utopia-hifi_plus_review.pdf

Vicki only pretends to have a budget anyway.

Vicki only pretends to have a budget anyway.

I was thinking in the $200-$300 range, but you know me....

The other thing you can try is filling the slot with some sort of bass absorbing material. That's the bass reflex port. Effectively making it a (mostly) sealed enclosure. Might make matters worse, though, depending what frequency range it's loading at. But worth trying, since it's reversible.

Maybe EQ or different source is cheaper? I'm gonna try my A2 with the AMP3 and see if it's tonal balance works better with the speakers than iTunes with iWOW or iPod.

I think I'm going to learn to live with them for now. I'm not thrilled with them, but it's not like I'm supposed to be sitting around just listening to music anyway.

As for changing my source, I can only use a portable source that I bring in, and although I have a portable cdp, the convenience of a 160g ipod is making me really happy right now. I like being able to drop it in my purse at the end of the day and go home. I like having music for every mood, and I love the shuffle feature. It's like a day filled with unexpected friends just showing up one after the other. The amp 3 doesn't interest me much right now due to low storage. The HiFiMan's sound really impressed me at CanJam, but same deal. Although I've never tried EQ on an ipod, whatever the regular setting is doesn't bother me with headphones, so I don't know why I would bother changing it because my speakers sound crappy.

I guess figure there are far worse things than annoying speakers. It's certainly far better than having to suffer through annoying music. Maybe I'll investigate again in a few months if they still bug me as they do now.

Try the Jazz EQ on the iPod. I remember liking that one with lesser setups/cans, although I cannot recall what it did to the sound.

EQ makes a lot of difference :\

But for the classic, it distorts a lot if you have any sort of EQ on

EQ makes a lot of difference :\

But for the classic, it distorts a lot if you have any sort of EQ on

So what does that mean for Vicki, who has a Classic?

It means she should jam a ULN-2 and Amarra into it.

That would be teh ahsum!

So what does that mean for Vicki, who has a Classic?

It means she should jam a ULN-2 and Amarra into it.

Thats what it means

The other thing you can try is filling the slot with some sort of bass absorbing material. That's the bass reflex port. Effectively making it a (mostly) sealed enclosure. Might make matters worse, though, depending what frequency range it's loading at. But worth trying, since it's reversible.

Yeah the KEF bookshelves my dad bought came with large chunks of foam to plug the bass ports to kill bass bloom. Definitely worth a try, and decreasing bass usually means perceived increase in treble, so it should be better balanced overall.

Does anyone know what the actual values are for the different EQ's on the iPod? I found a definitive list, but not their meanings.

Weird that there's a "small speaker" setting.

I may try the foam thing. Since I know nada, does anyone want to give me a clue as to what would work well?

I guess the inner tweaker/ortho modder in me says it'd be best if you could try a couple of different options and see what you end up liking best, but you can make judgments on how much bass bloom you want to remove. The foam that would make the least difference is some thin open cell foam that isn't dense... the denser/thicker the foam, the more bass resonance you will kill but the more bass extension you may lose. Dense closed cell foam would be like completely sealing off the bass port and so would only be used for extreme cases, where the bass is overpowering and muddy as hell... generally not recommended. And apparently the proper term for them is 'foam bung'. Make sure the foam bungs snugly fit in the bass port.

Seems using bungs is quite a touchy subject for audiophiles... kind of like EQ.

How big is the port? If it's small enough, you can buy a rubber cork at most any hardware/home improvement store. They come in a few different sizes.

The port is actually a slit type thing.

Nevermind.

The port is actually a slit type thing.

yup