Best Bass Amp!

millercarbon,

Amen, brother!  
     DBAs are just laid back super cool cats, taut, ultra smooth, extremely articulate and with a sexy deep alto voice that makes the ladies swoon.  But give these guys the right signals and they'll just get as tough, loud, bombastic and powerful as the situation calls for.  But they're always under complete control, able to quickly start and stop as necessary.


Tim 

ptheo,

      I think you need to decide whether you prefer very good bass response at just your listening seat's sweet spot or sota bass response throughout your entire room.  
    I believe your SW-900 subs are a pair of tall tower type subs with 6 10" woofers aligned vertically in each. Based on the quality of these and your speakers, I have no doubt you could arrange all 4 speakers (2 subs and 2 main speakers) in front of your listening seat sweet spot to get good bass response along with very good mid-range/treble response, good imaging and create a good sound stage illusion.   At all other standing and seating positions in your room, however, not only will the imaging be unavoidably nonexistent but the bass response will vary in quality due to bass modes present in the room (spots where the bass is noticeably exaggerated, attenuated or even non-existent throughout the room). If this is acceptable to you, then all you actually need is a good bass amp to drive your subs.  
    If not, the Swarm distributed bass array system I mentioned earlier would provide sota bass response throughout your entire room so that others in non-sweet spot locations can still enjoy the music being played in high quality full range sound.
    Another benefit of the Swarm is that the 4 subs (12x12x28 in. each and 44 lbs) would be positioned around the perimeter of your room, each facing and less than 2" from the wall, on spiked footers and the speaker cable connections hidden on the bottom. This results in the subs appearing in the room as pedestals in the wood of your choice like those seen at fine stores and art galleries. My wife usually has a vase with fresh flowers sitting atop one of the 2 subs visible in my combination living, music and ht room.  
    I know you have at least 2 pairs of excellent high quality speakers that I know would integrate seamlessly and sound great being paired to an excellent high quality distributed bass array system like the Swarm. I always had difficulty trying to pair 1 or 2 subs to my large Magnepan panels in my 23'x16'room. The Swarm I now use was the ideal solution and I don't believe I could overstate how well this system performs, truly sota for music and ht. The Swarm subs would not be positioned directly in front of your listening seat but the articulate bass will sound like they are. This also allows for only having your 2 main speakers needing to be optimally positioned in relation to your listening seat without the need for the pair of SW-900s and the Swarm subs along your room's perimeter.
      The SW-900s are still very good subs but I'm almost certain the Swarm distributed bass array system will outperform them in bass response quality, integrate more seamlessly with either of your main speakers and definitely be less conspicuous in your room.
    If you'd like to learn more about them and how it performs in my room and system, here's a link to a thread I started awhile ago here on Audiogon:  

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/anyone-else-using-an-audio-kinesis-swarm-or-debra-distributed...

Tim

Thanks everyone for the suggestions on the amps & subwoofer layout ideas. Much appreciated! 

Regarding the amps, I have a pair of PSA M700’s already on the Dali Megaline woofers so I will most likely try them when I’m done working on the Kinergetics subs & buy another pair then since I can get them for <$2K new.  I just wish they had an auto on/off feature or always on like the Bel Canto or Wyred 4 Sound amps. I may try a used Krell, Parasound or Bryston someday in the future though since they both have a great reputation for excellent bass.

 

Regarding the subwoofer layout Distributed Subwoofer Array vs Line Source Vertical Array I don’t pretend to be an expert, but I’m sure each have their pro’s & con’s. Since my room won’t permit DSA arrangement & I’m mostly concerned about the sweetspot vs the whole room getting the best bass. Besides, isn’t twelve 10” woofers better than four 10” woofers for room coupling? I also feel a subwoofer system that matches the height of my 7’ Dali Megalines will blend better together. Also, one of the world’s best speaker system the Infinity IRS uses LSVA & all other high end speaker manufactures do also.

Here’s a link to some very interesting reading about different subwoofer array designs:

https://www.electrovoice.com/binary/wp%20-%20Subwoofer%20Arrays%20v04%20.pdf

 

BTW- My Kinergetics SW-900 are very rare(only on I’ve ever seen, ever!) vs SW-800. The SW-800’s have five 10” woofers per side & measure 58Tx13Wx16D & are MDF with most oak veneer vs my SW-900’s have six 10” woofer & measure 70Tx13Wx19D are HDF with beautiful walnut veneer. I can’t wait to get them setup!

Advantages of Vertical Line Arrays:

Preventing Drop Off With Distance – A major advantage of a line array system is that you can achieve much more consistent sound levels from the front to the back of the listening area. Line arrays are made up of multiple modules, so by adjusting the physical angle and the amplitude of individual modules, a higher sound level can be projected toward the back of the room than toward the front, resulting in more consistent coverage throughout the space.

 

Vertical Pattern Control – The taller the line array, the better the control of the vertical coverage of the low frequencies emitted from it. This is important, as it reduces how much sound is sent toward the ceiling, which can cause unwanted reflections back into the listening areas. They can also reduce the amount of sound that leaks onto the stage or chancel area, which in turn, decreases the level of sound regenerated through open mics on stage, thereby cleaning up the overall sound and increasing GBF.

 

Sound Pressure Level (SPL) Capability – Some line array systems have a large number of drivers inside each cabinet of the array, allowing a single coherent wave front to be produced. Because of all these drivers, line arrays often have the capability of producing a higher SPL than is required, enabling systems to operate well below their stress point. If your church’s worship style requires concert-level sound reinforcement or hosts visiting national acts, the SPL capability of certain line array models can be an advantage.

ptheo,

     I misunderstood.  I thought you were looking for high quality bass performance that is very articulate, natural and integrates seamlessly with your Apogee Stages or your Dali Megalines but is still flat down to 20 Hz.      You've made it clear you're more interested in high spls and high quantity of bass rather than high quality bass. 
     You're obviously not familiar with high quality bass in your system since you'd rather sit in front of a pair of arena rock concert bass towers.


My mistake,
    Tim
 
     

I didn't realize they produced a 900. I own 800's that I was gonna use for a 2nd system that is not gonna happen so unfortunately will be selling them
They were designed to mate with Martin Logan CLS mains I believe. They produce quick, tight and deep bass! I ran a Crown XLS1502 amp on my 800's and Dspeaker anti mode 2.0. You could also look at Speaker power sub amps.
Please post pics if you can.