Buchardt S400 Mk II vs Sony SSCS 5 in Bass

@grislybutter Amen! Brother. I could happily live with the Dynaudio Evoke. 

@lanx0003 The margins are pretty slim on the OGY. The drivers alone are 380€ for a pair (made in France). If you factor in the cabinet (assembled in Poland) then 1500€ for the plywood model is a bargain. 

They say the bass goes down to 50Hz. I believe that. But specs don't mean much. The Klipsch RP600 go down to 45Hz but they only seem to have mid-bass. 

The OGY's bass is surprisingly punchy and fast, thanks to the transmission line. You don't have port shuffing like most ported tiny boxes. But the bass isn't warm enough or room-filling for big orchestral music. In comparison the Dynaudio Evoke is boomier with recessed mids (annoying for vocal clarity in movies). But the Evoke is just more fun. 

I paired my OGY with a Rel T5x subwoofer and I'm kinda on the fence. It's clear that I could setup the sub better. But I seem to gain a warmer/deeper bass at the expense of midrange clarity. 

@vthokie83

Thank you for confirming the amp. My parasound NC 2125 v2 actually has 2-3 ohm tap and HPF with either 20hz or 40 hz cutoff. When I switch from 4-8 ohm tap to 2-3 ohm and select 20hz HPF, the bass weight seems to improve a bit. When listening to Yulunga by Dead Can Dance from Wake, I seem to getting more satisfactory drum/bass. I am not sure if this is psychological but the amp runs much cooler for sure which is a good thing. It is even cooler than the class D amp I have.

Regarding the placement close to wall, I will try that again and let it sit there for a longer time to see if I like it. One issue I am having is that I actually do not have "front wall". What I have is the blind and heavy curtain. I have used that combination for taming the rear reflection. Maybe that is why I was not getting more bass as expected when I tried last time as @dwest1023 and Buchardt have suggested.  Right now, the PR is 22 inch away from the blind and about 15 inch away from the curtain.

@kokakolia

I am glad OGY / TL works for you. I recalled the port shuffing from one of my earlier bookshelf, Elac DB6 (the one with the rear port before AJ moves it to the front for the 2nd gen.) even cause pain in my ear drum. I switch it to DB62 (still have them) and like them (but not in love).

I recently put together a second system for my office which feature the Buchardt s400 mkii speakers. Driving them with a Luxman 590axii class A amp and Gold Note streamer/dac. For my needs, and the office space, I've been impressed with the base. The above system is giving my reference system a run for its money. 

I'm surprised by the comments on the Buchardt's lack of base. I've been blown away how deep they go driven by the Luxman. If I turn things up, it feels like I'm in a nightclub! 

I guess the issue I was running into is the type of bass. Let me reiterate. As Burchardt points out, they are shooting for flat / neutral response in mk ii so the bass (60-200 hz) is not boosted. As also explained by @vthokie83, the designer removes the bump in Mk I to exchange more accurate sound in Mk II which makes sense as the boosted bass tends to colorate midrange. One could also observe the boosted bass in Dynaudio Special 40 (in the 2nd chart). That is why almost everyone here agree that Special 40 tends to produce punchier bass than S400 Mk ii.

I guess I was soooo customed to the boosted bass (all my existing speakers are) and felt unsatisfied with the more "neutral" bass response from Burchardt. I am getting (used) there. Burchardt gives me more days to consider keeping the speakers and I will try the best with all great suggestions offered here. Thank you all.

Buchardt S400 mk ii

Dynaudio Special 40

@lanx0003 - Makes sense. Thanks for additional context!