Kick louder beneath my desk than my sitting posiiton. Who's telling the truth?

[jellyjim]

Hello

If I go under my desk, the kick drum or any bass is much louder than when I'm at my seated position.

Which position is telling the truth?

This particular room has no acoustic treatment but my monitors are Genelecs with the room compensation feature. My desk is against a wall but the monitors have a fair bit of clearance from it.

I'm assuming my seated position is more accurate as there must be all sorts of crazy interference and reflections under my desk.

Thanks.

[Hugh Robjohns]

If I go under my desk, the kick drum or any bass is much louder than when I'm at my seated position.

Which position is telling the truth?

Quite probably neither!

Ideally, the sound should be correctly balanced at your listening position... but that will depend on the room acoustics as well as the speakers. A room-correction system like Sonarworks (etc) and or an acoustics analysis system like REW would tell you more about how neutral (or not) the listening position is.

A desk is a large resonant cavity, so you're always going to get an LF boost under there, plus you're much closer to a solid boundary (the floor) so you've got boundary effect boost going too. Simple physics suggest low frequency instruments would be louder under the desk.... or near a wall, and especially near a corner!

This is also why putting a subwoofer under the desk is rarely a good idea!

This particular room has no acoustic treatment but my monitors are Genelecs with the room compensation feature

The latter doesn't compensate for the former (despite the name)... it just helps to reign things in a bit. Acoustic issues need physical correction – meaning properly implemented acoustic treatment. Systems like SAM and Sonarworks are great at polishing a reasonable room... but not at dealing with untreated room modes and mirror points.

Clesrly, if you can afford decent Genelecs you can afford decent room treatment... and the improvement would be well worthwhile.

[Drew Stephenson]

Both are telling their truth in each position. Assuming you've set your SAM stuff up with the mic at your sitting position that should be accurate(ish) at that position. But in an untreated room expect it to change wildly as you move around the room.
Headphones are your friend for low end in untreated rooms, and most partially treated rooms as well frankly.

EDIT - Hugh got there first and better!