Hi -
My ref3's are about a year old and only in the past few months has the bass become very nice and full even though they had been played loud for many,many hundreds of hours. I found that the Steroephile test cd #1, tracks 24-31 played at hi db's really worked well. These are the 100hz down to 20hz 1/3 warble tones. Before, I needed a sub to augment the speakers, but now I feel no need for that at all. I can now 'feel' as well as hear deep bass. 2 great benchmark tracks for me are "Toad" from Cream's Royal Albert Hall renunion cd - (Ginger Baker's drum solo) , and then Yim Hok-Man's "Poem of Chinese Drum" track. When you can feel these, you are there!
regards, Rich