HELP

While I am thinking of it; Do the speakers have 100 hours on them yet? If they don't- this could be your problem. Also- speaker placement would be another thread I would start seperately. At the very least- put some bass intensive music on and walk around your room. Does it sound good anywhere in the room?

Your choices are limited. I would arrange to take a couple of amps home or at least one at a time and listen.

Out of everything listed, the Jolida excites me the most, but your problem is bass, and that is probably the single biggest limiation with this amp. The NAD on the other hand, will command those woofers with authority, but may not be quite as convincing through the midrange on up.

Your choice is going to represent a compromise (all of our choices do) so you really need to listen for yourself and decide.

Another idea- if they have any demo power ampliifers- you could run your mac mini straight into the amp and control volume, etc from the PC. Or possibly add an inexpensive Axiom passive preamp for external control.

Your dealer should welcome taking something home for a listen.

Let us know, and dont hesitate to tell them you are asking for advice on the Internet if the discussion should begin to go south. That might put a little fear into them. This is an extraordinarily powerful community and our members are obliged to hear about poor dealers that should be avoided. (as long as they are truly poor dealers)

-Rob

Thank you everyone for your comments, it really help me alot. I will go to the dealer and ask if I can take any of the amp home for a demo. The dealer is not a bad dealer, I think they are unhappy because I go there to much and ask too much questions and didn't buy anything. They may feel that everything they said doesn't mean anything to me. But I respect everyone comments and advices, and am very happy for the help because I don't know any better.

If you live in Massachusetts, I'm thinking I know which dealer you're talking about--evil, snobby bunnies work there. I would also recommend the NAD within your budget. Best of luck.

In a room that is 12x14, the Profile 918 is perfectly sized (you did a great job there) and you should have very good bass extension and weight.

I also feel the Jolida 302B would probably be the best choice from the list and (I have to disagree with Robr45) that you should have excellent bass with this amp. I have heard the 302B a couple times with different speakers in larger rooms, and I had a 202B for a while in my house on my Focal 926s, and those Jolidas will put out excellent bass as long as the volume doesn't go too high. But it sounds like you don't listen loudly anyway and with a 12x14 room, you shouldn't run out of any power to get satisfying volume levels either.

Plus, down the road you can get a fancy set of tubes for this amp and make it sound even better for little more money! That tube amp with your 918s should sound excellent. It gets my vote and might be what you are looking for.

Arthur