More Bass


I recently purchase a pair of Legacy Signature speakers from an on-line retailer. I purchased them unheard, but I did my due diligence in researching them and I would have thought with the 7" woofers and a rated frequency response of 22-30K hz, there would have been a bit more bass (although there is a couple of tunes I have played where there is some bass that is really deep and sounds all garbled, very weird, but I just won’t listen to those songs,I guess).

I bought floor standers so I wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle that goes along with setting up subwoofers, also with all the space they take up and the negative WAF that goes along with them.

They are a little bright on the top end, but I’ll blame that on my room, it probably needs more treating, just limited on funds at the moment.

If I thought I needed subwoofers, I'm thinking I might have bought a pair of Fritz bookshelfs and a pair of subs, for probably less than the Sigs.

The price of Legacy subs is over the top for me, so do you think there is any way to get more bass without subs or are there any subs that are a bit smaller, that might do the trick as I am pretty limited on space (and funds as previously mentioned!) Thanks

 

 

128x128navyachts

Showing 3 responses by blisshifi

@navyachts Can you provide the dimensions of your room including ceiling height? I agree with others on the sealed vs ported design. Especially if the Signature SE have more than 3-4’ feet around them without walls, the 22Hz sealed will not charge the room as much as a ported speaker at 30Hz, let alone a quality sealed sub that goes down to 16-19Hz which is placed right in the corners. But it should provide detailed, accurate bass. I am now a Legacy Audio installer and have a pair of custom Signatures shipping soon. In my 19x23 room with 18’ slanted ceilings, I plan to use them 3-4’ from the front walls with subs in the corners. 

I would agree with @hickamore on the bass performance of the Signature SE and the benefit of using subs to supplement. I have previously owned both the Focus SE and Aeris. In both cases, while they let out big sound, they did not offer the benefits that quality, properly integrated subs do. I eventually moved away from the larger speakers and into better fitting speakers for the room accommodated by subs. Not only do the subs handle any missing bass information, but it also widens and deepens the soundstage and cleans up room modes and the full frequency spectrum, resulting in additional clarity and an improved performance across the board. Though I moved on from the Aeris being my speaker, I have since become a dealer and now am an official Legacy Audio installer. With that in mind, I have a custom pair of Signature SE coming for my floor in a week or two, as I realize it is more than enough to fill the space when properly integrated with subs, as demonstrated by a customer who traded in their Legacy Classic HD a few months back. Even that was enough in my room when partnered by two subs.

Measurements will also be very helpful, as is walking around the room as others suggest. But especially with the opening to the kitchen on the left side, subs and proper integration will be your best friend in this scenario.

Also, the problem is not with your amp, so disregard anyone who says so. The CODA No.8 is stable down to 2 ohms easily, and Legacy used to use CODA amps for their speakers prior to making their own with ICE modules.

@navyachts As mentioned, I owned both the Focus SE and Aeris. I found that smaller "full range speakers" and subs were the way to go for my room. With subs, you have better dedicated control of the bass through separate amps and are less limited to positioning the full-range speakers for bass balance. Also with the Focus, while the extra midrange is nice, the increase in the size of the drivers also increases the height of the Legacy Air Motion Transformers, which can be detrimental in sound quality for some if the tweeters are too high for their ears.

I don’t want to detract people from getting a Focus SE as it is a wonderful speaker and there are other benefits in addition to stronger bass, such as a richer midrange. But if you are already happy with the performance of the Signature SE aside from bass performance, upgrading to the Focus SE is not necessarily the answer. In my room, even with the Focus SE and Aeris, I preferred having subs due to the improved control, more even distribution of bass, and the benefits across the frequency spectrum I mentioned in an earlier post.