Speakers for aging audiophiles - What's with today bass emphasis ?

Kef ls 50

I own a pair of Harbeth P3esr speakers.  Nobody would ever claim they have too much bass (what bass they have, however, is well rendered).  I pull them out into my room for critical listening, but they normally are about 14" from the back wall.

The P3 speakers are unique in Harbeth's line in that they are a sealed box design.  They take a bit more power to push, but they are more forgiving when it comes to placement.  They have a signature Harbeth sound which you will either like or not.  They will not be as accurate and punchy as the near-field monitors you are using now.

I bought the Harbeths because I knew they would be near the back wall most of the time.  I also like their more natural, easy going sound compared to more strident speakers I have auditioned.

You will be able to get the BM6 speakers to sound much more balanced if you pull them from the wall.  I use Sound Anchor stands with carriage bolts substituted for the floor spikes, allowing me to move them around easily.  Depending on your floor and room, this may be a consideration;  the speakers do not have to be in the same place all the time, and they are easy to move.  Other good suggestions are acoustic room treatments, digital room correction, and equalization (in that order).

I agree that bass levels are more articulate in many modern masters and re-masters.  This is more a function of taking advantage of better playback technology than was generally available in the past.  I do not think there is some conspiracy to increase the bass to generate sales (see caveat below).  The program material and intended audience will inform the mastering.  I have been mostly very impressed with modern mastering on the music I listen to.

Caveat:  I do not listen to much Pop, Hip-Hop, Rap, or mainstream Country.  Those idioms appeal to a different musical audience – one that apparently appreciates high levels of compression and overwhelming bass (maybe because they are listening on ear buds, bluetooth speakers, or home theater systems).

Ryan R610

My desktop audio system is located in a bedroom/converted to home office (13 X 13), and by necessity the speakers/monitors are located w/in 10" of the front wall, similar to your situation.

I've tried 3 powered monitors here. The 1st was sealed but tiny and even crossed over the a sub, the mid-bass was suspect due to smallness of "bass" driver. The 2nd and 3rd were ported and bass was overly full in midbass.

I ended up changing the system quite a bit, improving the electronics and transition to the sub. At the same time, I installed a pair of passive ATC SCM12 Pro's (driven by Wyred4Sound ST 500 Class D amp, very fine sound). This is it for me--excellent sound, top to bottom. It turns out that w/close proximity to front wall, a sealed speaker is essential. I just needed a bigger better one than I had before--plus all the tweaks to electronics.

A 2-way can actually be very very good--but it must be a very very good 2-way for this to work. The ATC is one such speaker. If you had the space, the even larger ATC SCM19 is another.

marklings—Yes, you're likely correct about digital popular music mixes being more bass heavy than when intended for vinyl media, but that's for good reason. LP discs are the product of a 1948 compromise that traded fidelity for the means to fit 25 minutes/side onto a 12 inch record. Bass response was sacrificed to reduce groove excursion, and treble was boosted to mask surface noise. Complementary equalization is introduced during playback, but analog LPs still measure poorly when compared to standard “Red Book” CD media. CDs convey a dynamic range > 30 dB better than vinyl, with much flatter frequency response, far less harmonic distortion, and near-noiseless playback, so the bass will certainly be more apparent.

And, as noted, sealed speakers will provide a smoother and more natural bass falloff than ported reflex speakers, but they won't extend as deeply. That's why I prefer to use fully sealed mini-monitor main speakers with dual self-powered subwoofers for the low bass, with the main-to-bass crossover functions managed by an active electronic crossover control unit, e.g. Marchand XM66. This makes it convenient to set/reset a desired mains-to-subwoofer acoustic ratio from a single, central location; no need to crawl out to each individual subwoofer.