<< I recently bought a 7-month old pair of Vandersteen 2Ce speakers and stands. I am running them with an Adcom 545 MKII and GFP555 Pre Amp. They are biwired with Monster M1.4s bi-wire. The room is large and hard (windows, maple floors, drywall, and brick). I'm hard up for more bass. I'm particularly concerened with the fact that so much of the musical stage is convincing and yet the kick drum in so much of my music sounds reticent. The speakers are reputed for "excellent bass extension," and I do not remember this reticence when auditioning other 2Ces in a local dealer. Suggestions for how to evaluate or improve this situation?? Any help is appreciated. >> First the Adcom is a competent amp but not the most bass robust. Might try looking for a used Bryston 4b for about $1K. For a free fix start by moving them back towards the wall. If still not satisified, try a corner placement. Carefull when moving them back towards the wall, as it will effect the mids and highs. Try moving them around in your room, spikes will help a little. What about cables, while I'm not a cable freak, consider the gauge at least, use a 14 gauge, or better yet a 12, or even better a 10 gauge. The connectors to the wire provide at least as much sound effect as the wire it's self. Start with some reasonably priced multi-strand quality copper. It won't jump out but the sum of the above recommended activities should help. Audio Advisor in Grand Rapids, MI has some good deals from time to time. Last, there is always the subwoofer approach, but I suspect the bass your after is mid-bass, the slam and bam dynamics. If your into it, you can build you own or order a kit and assemble into their box. If not, for a serious low buck air mover with decent "apparent speed" the VMPS are big time air movers that don't screw up the pace and foot tappin feelin. Several of the kit places, Meniscus, Madisound (look on the net) have low buck dedicated amps for subwoofs with variable cross-overs. All rooms are not created equal, larger rooms need bigger air movements, i.e. bigger cones and/or more displacement. Trust me, try moving them around in your room first. Loontoon
Vandersteen 2Ce and bass performance
I recently bought a 7-month old pair of Vandersteen 2Ce speakers and stands. I am running them with an Adcom 545 MKII and GFP555 Pre Amp. They are biwired with Monster M1.4s bi-wire. The room is large and hard (windows, maple floors, drywall, and brick). I'm hard up for more bass. I'm particularly concerened with the fact that so much of the musical stage is convincing and yet the kick drum in so much of my music sounds reticent. The speakers are reputed for "excellent bass extension," and I do not remember this reticence when auditioning other 2Ces in a local dealer. Suggestions for how to evaluate or improve this situation?? Any help is appreciated.