2. speakers
  3. 183181-145382

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 5 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,877 posts
 

@erik_squires - Hi Erik, so I asked this directly of Legacy:

What is the minimum impedance of the Signature speaker, is it 2 ohms below 100 Hz?

Their response: "The signature line can go as low as 3.5 ohms"

So, pardon my ignorance, but what does all this mean? Thanks!

Welp, there’s a number of published measurements showing this to be optimistic. As I noted elsehwere, I’ve found a couple of different models shown to be around 2 Ohms for most of the bass. This includes the SE and 20/20. Perhaps I’m misinterpreting the statement or the charts?

For any speaker that goes down this low it means that with many amplifiers the bass output will often be depressed relative to the rest of the range. See the separate thread on the KEF Reference 1 standmount which has exactly this issue.

The solution is a high-current amplifier of which there are many at various price points, but your average integrated amplifier probably wont’ cut it. For sure, almost no tube amp will work here.

At 2 Ohms, an amplifier has to produce 2x the current (Amps) as at 4 Ohms, and 4x the current needed at 8 Ohms.

erik_squires
15,877 posts
 

and that problem being?

Wrote about it above. The speaker’s impedance < 100 Hz is far too low for a 4 Ohm speaker. If indeed this is a 2 Ohm speaker below 100 Hz it will require an abnormally stiff amp to sound good.

If you can’t find a review, call Legacy and see if they’ll tel you what the minimum impedance of the speaker was. Last option is to buy a DATS and measure the impedance yourself:  Alternatively, if you feel a little DIY get Room EQ Wizard and use the impedance measurement feature.

 

erik_squires
15,877 posts
 

 

Sadly I can't find any data on the impedance curve of the original model.  If it follows the same pattern however the issue will be straightforward.

erik_squires
15,877 posts
 

I think I’ve found your culprit. These speakers have about 2 Ohms for most of the bass region. A 4 Ohm rating is significantly optimistic.

They will require strong amplifiers capable of driving such difficult loads.

 

 

 

erik_squires
15,877 posts
 

This thread is so long because of the lack of measurements.  I strongly recommend you get OmniMic or Room EQ Wizard and measure at your listening location.

Yes, the lack of room treatment can make the room sound far too bright, but it can also have bad room modes.

Look at the AM Acoustics room mode simulator and try to keep your speakers and listening chair out of the lowest modes.

 

More to discover