Oh very much do I like sound. Accordingly, I have quite the sound system in my room. But recently it's been doing something I don't even begin to understand. That's why I'm here!

If I really knew what it was, I'd be able to describe it, but all I can do is describe the effect it has. Any music I play (and this tends to happen more on well mastered tracks) does something I've never experienced before.

You can actually _feel_ your eardrums moving, as if they're being gently massaged.

Now I'm not sure, firstly, if this is a good thing or a bad thing. But before I rebuild my speakers at 1.5 scale, I'd really like to know what's going on!

So help. Please. Anyone ever experienced this before? Is it that my system is too based around moving large pockets of air? Is it that my walls are reverberating the sound from direct opposite directions? Is this the sound of frequency cancellation happening in my cranium? Or have I just nailed it and created the perfect audio environment for the room?

A very confused wannabe audiophile.

OMGWTFLOL!

I've experienced this too in the past. One time it was lots of earwax (I think), the other time an ant crawled into my ear and started tickling me. Took me 30 min to get it out; eventually succeeded by sticking a match dipped in rubbing alcohol in my ear.

Edit: my => by

i smell bragger

Okay, this is NOT A JOKE!

No other sound system is doing this (my flatmates all have systems of their own, and we're all perplexed)

There are no ants in my ears.
I do not have ear wax.
Rule these out, yeah?

There's one other time I've felt this, it's when you hit large wooden drums with soft mallets.

I should add that this is happening at any volume - even at very low volume the moving in present.

I know it's laughable but surely someone's had this before...

hmm

how you can proove this to us ?

i dont know if its the sme but i have a pair of big speakers in my TV Room and when they plays and i am in other rooms in my house there is a MEEGGGA LOW Bass that is not in the TV Room.

i think that is an acoustic phenomen

I once experienced a similar effect, but this was after I sayed up for a straight 24 hours. The effect took a day to wear off. Strange things happen to your mind/body when you stay up for much too long

but since your roommates also hear this effect...hmm. Try moving your speakers to another room and see if the same thing happens. If the "space" sucks, it can turn even the best sound into something irritating

Maybe you are hypersensitive to low frequencies. A specialist of the ear could tell you.
I once experienced hypersensitivity to low frequencies. It was after having spent 7 hours in a nightclub with a loud soundsystem with much bass.
It didn't exactly feel like the eardrum being massaged, exept for the constant feeling of a pressure on it, like being underwater, but I could feel the slow oscillation of low frequencies waveforms on it. Mostly from car engines, at about 20 or 30 Hz.

I think that Exquire had said that his flatmates agree that it's his sytem--I doubt that they're all extremely sensitive to low frequencies. But in any case, have you tried playing around with the bass? ie. setting it as low as possible so that there's no bass and gradually bringing it up?

I'm also assuming that you've tried the same music on different peoples' setups.

If it is the bass, take a look around your room when you play. There's probably something about your room that's futzing with your sound (either that or there's really something wrong with your setup!). Try moving your gear to a big open room or a small closed space, etc. and see if they make a difference. If you're still hearing it after all that...then it's definitely the setup, somewhere somehow.

speakers are probably out of phase...lol

EVERYTIME or only when the beat bass hits ?




Some Bass freaks would wish they had the setup you have in your room, too, to "feel their eardrums moving"

That is a possibility. One speaker would be plugged properly, while the other would have the + and - inverted. The feeling that it produces is difficult to describe. For me, it's like if the sound was coming from inside my skull, somewhere in the back of it.

Thanks for the input - to clarify:

It occurs not on all bass frequencies, nor treble frequencies - I'm prepared to say it's on all "phat sounds" or generally everything well mastered with a good natural sounding reverb on it. Something's definately telling me it's gotta be to do with low frequencies because .. well, they're much more physical.

Thing is, and this is probably crucial, my system doesn't really work on "cranking up the bass" because of the way the speakers are.. they're personally restored EPI Micro-Towers with two 3.5" cones in each. The bass reflex is at the bottom of the tower, pointing to the ground (and very wide to allow reflections straight back in and compress the air). Thus, you get this magical amount of bass from small speaker cones and without too much power.

So if I turn down the bass, I still get a good amount because most of the bass on them is coming from the natural resonance of the instruments rendered..!

Major problem with this technique is that while the sound will resonate and sound "bigger", it's only resonating the frequencies available to the 3.5 inch cones themselves... and because there are no crossovers, all sounds have some degree of natural resonance (hence, I think, any sound will do the "moving ear drums" trick and confuse your visitors).

It occurred to me yesterday that maybe I'm just ultra stupid and have set them up out of phase. So I've just switched the + and - on one of them and I'll see what happens when I get a chance tommorow (now is very late) :S

Cheers for your suggestions and questions.. FYI my room is medium-large and the speakers are spread out (into the corners).

Exquire.

me 2...
get some rest

Nope, it's not that.



I am desperately in need of rest - but I'm fairly well convinced it's not making my eardrums feel like they're moving!