Treble and bass workaround???

[Clongworth]

Mom is 92 and I grabbed an Echo so she can listen to my Audible books, jokes, etc.
Her hearing isn't great and seems the Echo has too much bass and it sounds garbled to her.
I know there's no adjustment, and I've tried putting it on a shelf, floor, in a box....can't get it so she understands it.
Any weird workarounds to minimize bass?

[Deane Johnson]

This may be only slightly helpful if at all.

Try moving the Echo a away from a wall or other object.  These things tend to increase the bass response a little bit.

I too have hearing issues and I found I was able to help the bass issue just a little by by placement.

I wish we had access to tone control for situation like these.  Maybe someday.

[Ultramanv]

Fortunately, enterprising reader Adam Brower has done some poking around in the Echo’s firmware source code

“The current Echo firmware allows adjustment of at least three EQ bands: bass, midrange, and treble.”

“Alexa responds to “Alexa, turn [up/down] the [bass/midrange/treble]” or “Alexa, [increase/decrease] the [bass/midrange/treble]”. Also, “woofer” and “tweeter” can be substituted for “bass” and “treble” in either form. In the first form, the article “the” seems to be required by Alexa only when adjusting the midrange! The Echo will then display the current setting of the given EQ band by lighting in white the appropriate percentage of the circle.”

“There does not appear to be a “return to normal EQ” command, but it would make sense, as would “set [bass/midrange/treble] to N.” ”

[jwlv]

I just tried the commands for adjusting the bass and treble. Although Alexa accepted the commands, it just treated the commands as if I said turn up/down the volume. No EQ adjustments were made.

Perhaps this is a feature that Amazon is planning to roll out in the near future.

[Ultramanv]

**UPDATE – 10/7/15**
One user reported that when he turned up the bass it seemed like all that did was turn the volume up. Since EQ commands aren’t sent to the Alexa app (at least, not as of this writing), I had to resort to a more hands-on testing approach.

I started with a song I know very well that has a strong bassline (Mondo ’77 by Looper), with the volume set very low. I placed my hand lightly on the side of the Echo cylinder so I’d be able to feel any vibration, and there was none. Then I issued the command, “Alexa, turn up the bass,” and both the bass and volume did go up, and I could feel vibration in my hand. However, after I used the remote to turn the volume back down to where it was at the start of the experiment, the Echo cylinder was still vibrating. Since I’d turned the volume back down to where it was before, when it wasn’t vibrating at all, I concluded this was a sign that the bass had been increased when I issued the command.

[Ultramanv]

I tried this over the weekend and was able to increase my bass and treble substantially.....