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I want profoundly better bass

Looks like I caught your attention. I have a moderate sized stereo room that is about 12.5 feet wide and has no rear wall for almost 32 feet. With a large opening for the stairs on on side of the front of the room I have a fairly large area in which to propogate bass. My current speakers are either a pair of Apogee Mini Grands or a pair of Meadowlark Audio Hot Rod Herons. I have VTL MB-450s, A forte 4 and Vtl Tiny Triodes (with Infinicaps) with which to play amplifier roulette. Preamp is a hot Rodded VTL TL. 2.5 and Digital Source is an Ayre Cx7e. Vinyl is via a Dynavector 20Xh strapped to a Rega P-25 that feeds A Plinius Jarrah.
Here is the $64.00 question. Given the 2 speaks I have now and their proclivity to warmth and subtle detail, what would somebody suggest I do for speakers with PROFOUNDLY better bass? Budget is somewhere in the 5K range used preferred. If your thoughts are to subs, no thanks as I have been down that road. Even the Minigrand's subs are a bit too much slop and giggle compared to the panel parts of the Apogees. Here is another hint. BIG sound is good as long as images are not too stretched. Re. I do not want a 10 foot tall Diana Krall in my living room. I already married a gal who looks like her (only better) and would be very afraid of a ten foot tall woman. Thanks in advance

Meadowman
128x128meadowman

Showing 1 response by douglas_schroeder

douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
I don't know that your prejudice against subwoofers is warranted.

In order to fill your huge room subwoofers might be the best option. Not all subs are created equal. Vandersteen subs and REL subs seem to be highly musical (i.e. fit for the most critical two channel audio listening). Positioning them at the back of the room may help "fill" the void. I would recommend a pair, since much low level info does come on either left or right channel.
My listening room is 13x23 and is filled quite easily by the bass created by twin pairs of Eminent Technology LFT-8A's as main speaker, along with pair of Vandersteen 2W subs. That's 10 8" drivers for bass. Even the lowest frequencies are reproduced without effort. I actually have the Vandy subs dialed down a bit since there's so much clean bass, they don't have to work hard at all.
I would caution using a sub with larger than 8" drivers in multiple configuration for use with panel/hybrid speakers, since it won't be able to keep up with the speed of the panels. But trust me, the Vandersteen sub can work fabulously with a panel speaker. I've used it with Magnepans and now with Eminents quite successfully.
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