Well I fixed the bass response on my speakers big time
I changed the power amp to a BAT VK600SE
What a difference!
Not only has it filled out the bottom end and tightened it up no end it has also allowed MUCH higher overall volume levels without an edginess setting in as it did with the krell. I can now watch the windows bow in and out with the bass pressure waves...lol
However I would say that it does appear to have lost a small amount of soundstage, hard to judge but it does seem less spacious. Guess there never is a total win win situation.... |
Guess I should have been a little clearer, not really looking to obtain subterranean bass levels down in the 25hz range or such, just more to flesh out the bass I have, maybe more punch and drive maybe better description?
Would like to not add subs, preamp does not have a sub out so would have to do with speaker wiring.
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Thank you Soix!
I honestly must say I had never considered a sub for my music rig. Guess I figured a well matched setup just did not need or want a sub?
And I do know just how well a good sub can work on the ht system, my ht rig cost even more than my music (have to keep the wife happy!) and it includes a REL Stentor 2 sub which will literally loosen your bowels on certain action movies...just as it is intended too.
But I had considered this to be a little unnatural and more a consequence of todays age where we expect action movies to involve us so deeply we "feel" the explosions as much as hear them.
Maybe I need to "borrow" it for a few days and see what effect it has.... |
How best would I connect a sub to my system?
I use balanced interconnects between preamp and power amp
could i just use the regular rca outs from my preamp that are unused right now? |
Hey MTROT, that is very interesting as I thought that if I stood in the middle of the room that bass was slightly improved but as you say the rooms are what they are.
As I have a rel stentor 2 sub in my ht rig, I am going to give it a try, when I can summon up the enthusiasm to move 110lb of dead weight from there to my music room that is.......... |
Thank you George
I will research that as well.... |
Now I am confused...lol
Some say the Krell is the problem, others say the preamp
Going to perform some tests today swapping components out of my ht rig like front speakers, power amp etc
Results soon...... |
Alright, have performed a couple of tests this morning using 2 reference cd,s . Pat Benatar, best shots and Nonzamo by IQ, both have some really good tight punch bass lines in them and soaring vocals( for rock anyway!)
First I pulled the ht fronts and swapped them in, these are sonus faber concerto grand piano and they gel perfectly in the ht rig but here with no other changes....a complete disaster!
Really muffled bass of miniscule proportions, nasal vocals and soundstage all but gone, could just be equipment matchs but also possible that in the ht rig I have the sub crossed over at 70hz so just maybe I do not even know the letdown as it is not apparent there, or maybe they just work much better with the components in the ht rig?
Whatever hooked the Ushers back up and back to near bliss.
Next I swapped out the Krell poweramp for the ht 2 channel poweramp( i have Emotiva xpa2 and xpa5 for ht duty). Different......
Not bad just ...different.....
I would say the bass was maybe a little deeper but not as tight, vocals seemed strong and sweet but the soundstage was possibly a little more compressed. Overall I think the Krell did a better job but the difference was nowhere near as drastic as the speaker swap.
I know Emotiva does not have the best rep but seriously the bang for the buck at 1300 for both amps used off eBay was not to be missed and they work extremely well in the ht rig.
Looks like the next step has to be moving the behemoth 110lb REL sub in and giving that a whirl...I am working up to that one..... |
Thank you Al!
Couple of thoughts here....how best to wire with speaker terminals? Can i just piggyback another speaker cable from one set of terminals on the Krell to the sub or?
Also bear in mind this is just a test as the REL belongs in the ht rig and from what I heard from the Sonus Faber speakers this morning needs to stay there...lol.
Thoughts on a reasonable priced sub if this test helps out?
Thank you |
well I was just looking at the connectors in general on ebay and they all looked like two conductor, not quite sure what rel would be doing different but time to investigate! |
Another option I could consider for a sub is to get a unpowered sub and a dedicated sub amp which I could feed with a line out direct out of the ls2?
Thoughts? |
hah, a simple search using "rel neutrik speakon" brought up exactly what you described, yellow red and black!
So simple when you know...lol
thank yu |
Al, again many thanks for your time and information.
At present I do not have the speakon connector for the rel but that is easily resolved, just glad to know I can then just piggy back off the Krell.
a couple of the svs subs i quickly looked at did NOT have the speaker level inputs only line level so have to research thouroughly before i think about buying anything |
Yes, assuming you have the Neutrik Speakon cable that is normally used to connect the unbalanced speaker-level input of REL subs to amp outputs, and assuming the amp is not being used in bridged mode, just piggy-back the wires from that cable onto the amp's output terminals. (Red and Yellow to right + and left + on the amp, respectively, although it wouldn't matter if those connections were interchanged, and Black to either right - or left - on the amp).
Sorry to be a simpleton but I am now confused.
Your statement indicates three wires but the neutrik speakon connectors and cable i have been looking at just now only are 2 pole/conductor?
What am I missing? |
Well, quick update
It does indeed appear that the addition of a sub gave me just what I looking for in my room with my equipment, sure it will not be everybodies solution but I am happy with the results.
I actually bought a PSB Subsonic 6i from craigslist yesterday at a very fair price in excellent shape and it was very easy to tune in to give me just what I was looking for.
Thank you everybody for your assistance! |
