How do I set the acoustic tone controls (I am getting too much bass)?

Genelec loudspeakers are all calibrated in an anechoic chamber for free field conditions, i.e. no nearby reflecting boundaries that create comb filtering or load the drivers. The consequence of this is that when the loudspeaker is placed in a room the low frequency driver receives additional loading from nearby boundaries. This has the effect of increasing the omni-directional bass energy and so the music will sound 'bassy' and 'muddy'. To achieve a flat frequency response the bass content must therefore be adjusted by typically -4dB on the bass tilt control. However, rooms vary in their shape, size and layout so sometimes only -2dB or even -6dB is required.

Often there is some remaining interaction between the room and the loudspeaker so GENELEC also provides a bass roll-off control to compensate for excess bass around the low cut-off frequency.

Differences in room reverberation time and listening distance can lead to changes being required in the treble region so a treble tilt is fitted to most of the models in the GENELEC range.

The best way to set the acoustical tones controls of a GENELEC loudspeaker is by measurement using a system such as WinMLS or MLSSA.

Unfortunately, this is unavailable to most users so the Quick Set-up Guide supplied with the loudspeaker gives a good starting point that will give satisfactory results in most situations.