2. amps-preamps
  3. 1120249708

Von Schweikert VR4JR & Tube Amp???

So...without boring you with too much details, I've been FORCED to move my rig into a small dedicated room in my basement. I currently have the above speakers, Marantz SA8260 SACD/CD, Marantz PM7200 (95wpc), Kimber Silver Streak, Audioquest Montblanc & CV-6. My room is only about 12x10 and it's in a corner of my finished basement so, I have two walls that are poured concrete behind the paneling. Obviously, the sound sucks. Since the room is fully enclosed and mine alone, I literally had to surround the room with R-15 Insulation covered with heavy felt moving-blankets and built some baffling in the corners. Ceiling is typical foam drop-ceiling tiles. Floor is carpeted. After some experimentation with speaker placement, I have ACCEPTABLE sound accross most frequencies except the bass (too boomy). Now here's the question: I'm hoping to make the following hardware changes as final adjustments since I might be here for awhile: Replace the PM7200 with a Primaluna Prologue 2 or Manley Stringray and the Audioquest cables with Kimber 8TC. I don't have the experience with or the ability to audition the considered new gear but, what do you wise and insightful folks think???
pawlowski6132

Showing 2 responses by newbee

newbee
4,796 posts
 
Personally, before reaching any conclusions about changing amps I'd want to address the bass boom you describe. Assuming you can't or wont find speakers that will work better in those dimensions, and the present locations of the speakers and listening position are the best you have been able to do, personally I'd invest in a good 1/3d octave or a parametric equalizer to get that done. If you follow that course you will need either seperate amp and pre-amp, an integrated with a tape monitor loop, or one that has a pre amp out/amp in feature of some type to accomodate the insertion of an equalizer. Much as I like the Primaluna stuff, its not going to help your bass problems disappear a whit and it doesn't have either a tape loop or a pre out/in. Can't speak for the Manley. Hope that helps a bit.
newbee
4,796 posts
 
Bass from tube amps is often different in quality from SS amps, but not necessarily quantity. In my view the correction of the bass is far more important to the listening experience than the minor (if any) changes or distortions you might add from using a good equalizer. From a purist point of view adding an equalizer might introduce changes detectible when you do an A/B comparison, and some might hear the effect of these changes when actually listening to music, but that bass boom you will always hear and it is inappropriate and disruptive to the remaining music, for me at least.

Of course no one has asked you the degree of bass boom you are experiencing. If its on the order of 6db I wouldn't consider it a big deal - it would be something I would be albe to live with (and do). But if your are talking 12 to 15db I would find that too much. Have you actually taken a SPL meter and a test disc and checked out your room and the best available listening and speaker positions with it? If not, its worth doing.
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