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 stehno

Meadowman, I'd like to address your statement about playing amplifier roulette only.

Simply because I think any good quality or better full-range speaker is capable of giving you the bass that you may be seeking.

The problem is that there only a few amps capable of reproducing such bass possessing such absolute controlling power over the woofer driver like you never thought possible.

For even finer tuning of the bass regions, I would not underestimate the significance of speaker placement, the interconnects, and speaker cables. Some to many ics and scs induce much time smear which simply translates to a bloated and/or ill-defined bass.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention the significance of proper vibration control and line conditioning.

All these are contributing factors toward successfully achieving the best possible bass that is not only profound but a deep, tight, well-defined, bass, that when called upon knocks you square in the sternum (but not across the room) and produces that PR&T that instinctively gets your toes tapping and head bobbing.

But none of the sonic benefits of these other ingredients, even when combined, will quite compare to the quality of acquiring the right amplifier to control the woofer drivers.

-IMO