Gogirl, There are gradations of "professional" everywhere one looks. I have found most audio dealers to be very sincere, helpful and knowledgeable. Sometimes it's very difficult for the dealers to know precisely what the customer's precise definitions of "lots of bass" etc. mean. Terminology can be tricky, as is evidenced by occasional arguments here over such things. The more knowledge you bring into the store, the more they can apply their experience and knowledge to help. No, I've never been an audio dealer. :)
One thing that might be helpful is for you to get names of components, then look at reviews/recommendations online to see what the consensus is. Certainly if there is a general concern there are many helpful people here on "Agon" to help. A review may state, "The low end was a bit shy..." and someone here will say, The bass sucked..." Well, maybe not THAT drastic! Neither statement tells you that the speaker could only go down to, say, 40Hz and was incapable of making the booming low end.
You can check out "Specifications" of components - the performance parameters at the end of manuals, and often times listed online with speakers, amps, etc. With speakers, before buying you can look up the specifications and see what the "bass response" is - how low and how high the bass goes.
A simple scale to assess how much "ooomph" in the low end a speaker will have:
Down to 50Hz - phhhht. no "boom" to speak of
Down to 40Hz - getting there; this is the point at which a fair number of audiophiles say, "Below this point it's not that critical," since there's a ton of nice sounding bass happening at this point.
Down to 30Hz - Now this speaker is getting good. It's going to have some visceral feel to it and when cranked up you'll begin to feel the vibrations. Many audiophiles want speakers which can generate bass at least in the 30Hz range.
Down to 20Hz - now down into subwoofer territory, or speakers with huge drivers (i.e. 12", 15"). (There are other technologies to do this, but I'm simplifying). Speakers which can go from "20-20" or 20Hz (super low) to 20,000Hz (super high) are considered true Full Range speakers.
Below 20Hz - this is getting into very costly, huge speakers usually. These speakers sometimes have subwoofers in separate enclosures/cabinets or have subs built right into the cabinet. It's very common for people with smaller speakers which can't do the low bass to supplement with a subwoofer or two. I tend to prefer a full range speaker over smaller speakers with subs. But it's not a huge deal when you have made the commitment to major upgrades every six months, like you said, right? :)
So,... check the specs of the speakers you have and you can tell if you will need to add a subwoofer to get your low end sound.
Yes, the room was built specifically for two channel audio. I had never built anything prior - the change of homes and the space to do it motivated me. It looks simple/straight forward, but I put the majority of the effort into the walls, ceiling, etc. It would have been an oversight to not put in surround (7.1), but 95% of the time I listen to two channel. I wired the room for cable but haven't hooked it up. I enjoy reading more than TV; watch a movie on the 100" screen maybe once a month. The room is so quiet that I can hear if a light bulb filament is buzzing.
I enjoy the experience of walking into that room every time. I had a nice compliment paid from a speaker manufacturer who came by three weeks ago and was using a laptop and analyzer speaker calibration equipment) to set up some special speakers for review. He said that the room sounded like a mastering studio. I have been in a couple recording studios and I do feel that I ended up with a good acoustic space. I built it to be acoustically isolated from the rest of the house; the utilities are on the other side of the wall and they cannot be heard. My boys' bedrooms are above and they can sleep while I play music at whatever level I like.
It took me 8 months and a tremendous amount of learning and work, but it turned out exactly as I had hoped. I can understand (again, as many, many here at Agon) the excitement, frustrations, etc. of working one's way up over the years to achieve an excellent system which makes the hobby very fulfilling. When I was in college I thought I would never be able to own a high end rig. I worked for 20 years putting in about $500 to $1,000 per year on upgrades. I could have put in more but chose to allocate my resources otherwise. When people see the rig (old pics and components shown; sorry!) and realize it cost the price of a nice automobile they have a tendency to be shocked. I keep telling them, "...twenty years."
I and many others here are living proof that with patience one can successfully reach wonderful dreams! Now, lately I have been thinking that if I work the same system I could in about 15 years possibly have a classic car. In less time I could have a nice cycle.
Enjoy the pursuit of the audio dream now, because life can throw serious changes at us. Health, marriage, motherhood, can all influence. The beauty of audio is that it's adaptable, you can fit it in somehow almost anywhere, and there are usually excellent products for every niche.
If you have the name of the speakers, there are people here with expertise and experience who can suggest good subwoofer matches.
I've enjoyed chatting; I am going to bow out for a while. I will let some others share. There is a tremendous wealth of knowledge here.
