Rogue Audio Sphynx and Martin Logan Odysseys

Thanks for your responses and I guess I exposed my ignorance of both biamping in general and the capability of my own amp. I'm in the process of learning terms such as active, passive, horizontal, vertical, etc., and I think what I needed to ask has to do with using pre outs from the Sphinx to a more powerful stereo amp supplying the speakers. I'm not totally convinced that my bass needs more damping or even if simply adding more power would accomplish this. I spoke with a Martin Logan tech who didn't disagree with the logic of this proposed solution, but my very expert audiophile Rogue dealer believes that the Sphinx should keep the bass pretty "tight" by itself. I'm just starting my learning curve and have a relatively limited budget as regards equipment purchases so any and all advice will be appreciated.

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I appreciate these responses mostly because of your sharing knowledge but partly because it confirms the fact that it wasn't just my limited experience keeping me from making what I thought was going to be a simple and straightforward fix. It might help if, as suggested, I provide some detail describing my equipment and listening area.

My listening area is my living room which restricts my latitude in several ways including the inability to use spikes on our wooden floors, placement of speakers relative to furniture, etc. I have done some experimenting with placement using the Jim Powers flashlight method of adjusting toe in of curved ESLs, and moving them further away from the front wall (this actually seemed to help a little). My equipment is not top shelf audiophile grade but I think it is pretty good relative to what I've heard described as more common consumer based products. This is what I have:

1. Martin Logan Odysseys which I've had for around 13 years, with the original panels. They still perform beautifully at least in the mid to high frequency range.

2. Rogue Audio Sphinx hybrid amplifier (100 wpc) which I've had for 2 weeks.

3. Shanling solid state CD player which I've been very happy with.

4. Sony multi-disk " jukebox" with a California Audio Labs DAC. Before installing the DAC listening from this source was not good at all, but convenient.

All of my equipment was purchased used except for the amplifier and I have used other amps with more power with these speakers including Yamaha and Pioneer surround receivers, and Arcam, and McCormack amps. I'm not a bass loving listener and my previous appreciation of bass was based on how low and loud it was, especially when I was setup for surround sound movie listening. I've now become more aware of bass in terms of how well it represents musical instruments. The example that I've heard expressed in regard to bass tightness or damping is the reproduction of "kick" drums.

When I auditioned the amp, the dealer was using a very high end tube based Shanling CD player and a $3300 pair of bookshelf sized speakers and the sound was the best I've ever heard on any combination of components. That's when I became aware of bass tightness and the fact that this amp was capable of controlling bass, at least with these smaller and lighter speakers. I don't expect to duplicate what I heard there and I'm almost sorry I heard it, but I do want to improve bass control because I'm otherwise very satisfied with my setup as it is. If I don't have to add addition power but, if I have to, I will.

I hope I haven't stepped over the line in terms of thread length but hope this detail will help with a solution.

In all my years of audio interest I've never used spikes so I have a drawer full of them. I guess I just didn't understand, and am still a little fuzzy, how this seemingly simple application could accomplish much. Anyway, I appreciate your knowledge and experience so will continue to try understanding the rationale. I'm trying not to sound hard headed about spikes and I do like the idea of using "pucks" of some sort under the spikes but wonder what would be accomplished by moving the interface between the speaker and floor to between the puck and the floor. As a matter of fact, it creates 4 extra points of contact using this method. BTW, I do have the owners manual but didn't, obviously, heed ML's instructions. I'm going to try soft feet because I do believe that it will result in more solid contact than the flat floor to flat speaker box, because neither are truly flat.

BTW, both Rogue Audio and my dealer agree that this amp with a damping factor of 1000, should easily keep the bass tight, everything else being equal.

If I decide to use spikes it won't be until after everything else is tried and adjusted and, even then, it will not be directly into/onto the floor. I had spikes on a Vandersteen sub a few years ago and it did cause damage when I tried moving moving it to accommodate new furniture. I'm 71 years old and have some significant difficulty lifting these things straight up to minimize damage to the floor so some compromise is necessary. After all, my whole listening area is already a compromise. Btw, I'm starting a new thread because I just discovered that one of my speakers needs a new transducer I think. Talk about a pain in the neck.