2. amps-preamps
  3. 1015719675

Tone controls to get bass from small speakers?

Have you ever thought you'd like to have tone controls at your disposal to do a good job of extending the bass of small speakers? (aw, c'mon, admit it).

Anyway, it seems that whenever a product (usually a budget product) actually does have tone controls, it is set to boost bass around the 100 hz level, and this seems fairly useless. In the past, however, I had an astounding little system consisting of Spica TC-50's, a Marantz CD63, and an AMC 3030 integrated.

The Spicas weren't exactly Jurassic Park dinosaur stompers, but the really cool thing about the AMC was that it boosted bass around 50 hz, not 100 hz. This gave the apparent effect of giving the Spicas real, extended bass.

Do you know of any combination of small speakers and amplification-with-tone-controls that can pull a thirty foot organ pipe out of a hat?

Thanks guys.
stevegolf1

Showing 1 response by bomarc

bomarc
501 posts
 
If I recall correctly, in the old days Radio Shack sold an Optimus(?) line of amp-speaker systems that were designed in just this way, with the amp compensating for the speakers' weaknesses. The current NAD all-in-one system also has a bass boost tailored, I presume, to the PSB Alpha Minis that it is often marketed with. It's heresy at the high end, of course, but in the low- to mid-fi ranges, it may well be the most logical way to go.

Now that I think about it, if I were a manufacturer, I might be tempted to hide an equalizer inside my powered speakers, to achieve just the effect you're describing. I could get better bass response from smaller speakers, and the audiophiles would never know!
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