Primaluna. Evo 400 - bass issues


This will be long, I really need some help determining why I’m getting poor bass response. I’m pretty sure it’s this amp, the PrimaLuna Evo 400 power amp. I’ve been trying speakers with it with poor results. In the interim I’ve been using cheap Mackie MR5 studio monitors out of my preamp, the Evo 300. I’ve had great results with these and that is the problem. These are tiny 5” near field monitors and the bass response I’ve been getting is excellent. The bass has been so good I decide to try to find a bookshelf speaker that is similar as I like how they disappear and based on the bass I was getting from these I thought I’d be good to go. I listen to predominately jazz so I’m not looking for thunderous bass just enough to fill in the rhythm section and bass walks etc. These Mackie’s do that. With that said, they don’t compare in the mids and highs but the bass is there. Here are the specs on the Mackie: https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-24164-Mackie-MR5.html

Equipment:

VPI Prime Signature, Hana ML, Herron VTPH-2a, Evo 300, Evo 400, Audioquest Niagara 1200. Stock tubes in the 400, Evo 300 has upgraded Psvane and 1960 Mullard rectifiers.

Room:

16.5 feet long 15 feet wide (room opens to the right another 12 feet) 8 feet ceiling

Mackie’s are 2 feet of the side wall and the back walls. I keep that for all the speakers I’ve tried.

Speakers I’ve tried:

Tannoy Turnberry’s

B&W 805

B&W 606

Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2EX

Probably my favorite were the 805 but there was no bass. With all of these speakers I found very minimaL bass response. I thought the Ascend would be good because of the impedance curve but they sounded the worst.

Personally I think the issue is the room, but then how am I getting good bass with the Mackie’s? So now I think it’s the amp. When I read about other peoples experiences with this amp bass doesn’t seem to be an issue. What gives? Am I just use to the solid state monitors and how they provide bass vs tubes? Is it the room? Poor speaker matching? I recently had the 606’s over again as they are a friends that he uses in a surround setup. They really sounded nice but again poor bass and they are rated to go deeper than the Mackie’s.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

jazzjunkie80923

Showing 1 response by sandthemall

Primalunas have plenty of bass even with EL34s. That’s probably not your problem unless you have a faulty amp. Which would be rare as Primaluna has some of the best quality control in the business.

Smaller speakers like your Mackies are easier to place in a modestly sized room with a big side opening. Medium to large speakers take a bit of finesse/trial and error if it’s not something you have a lot of experience doing or your room conditions are not helping. And then there is the matching of speakers to amp.

The room is such a strong player in the acoustic signature of a system. A room must be exploited to the fullest to get the best sound out of it. This takes time. A lot of folks fit the system into the furniture layout and tweak from there. That is probably too much of a compromise against the system and you can’t expect much. Throwing money at gear at this point is a serious waste of money.

Unless you have a dedicated listening space, you’ll need to know how to compromise in a way that puts your system first and the furniture layout second. I’m lucky. I have an old home with formal rooms. More importantly I was able to get my wife to agree to a compromise that works for the both of us. It doesn’t look like a compromise as the rules for the living room are sneaky enough to get good bass and imaging while looking like the room favors the fireplace.

I have a Primaluna Evo 400 pushing Tannoy Turnberrys. They sound big in my 22’ x 16’ room with 8’ ceilings. Bass in never a problem. I’ve had them for a year and I’m still tweaking the room.

You said you listened to all the speakers in the same position. But I’m certain each of those speakers has its own perfect place in the room. You need to find that spot.

My speakers are 1/5th the width of the room from the side walls. They are 1/10th the depth of the room from the front wall. This is not optimum but is good enough for living. When I do serious listening they move forward off the back wall to about 1/7th the depth of the room.