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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
streetdaddy
349 posts
 
Lgjl,
please tell me more about the kozmos. Thanks.
ljgj
955 posts
 
Go to the miscellaneous thread snake oil and fun- I tell it all there - the site also gives you the lowdown (no pun intended).
danvetc
527 posts
 
1. Anyone who still thinks tone controls degrade the sound has not heard the Z-Systems digital equalization units. (Unfortunately, the one I use cost $5K new.)

2. A "small" speaker can only do so much, no matter what you do with a "tone controller." Man, in this situation you have to have a subwoofer if you want the organ pedals. If you let the subs larger driver do the bass work, your monitors/small speakers will do a better job on the mids. (Don't ask a boy to do a man's job!)

Good luck, Charlie.
subaruguru
1,353 posts
 
This is easy. Just chase a used NAD 7100, 7400 or 7600 receiver.
They had a Bass EQ switch that pumped up the bass from 35-80 Hz or so, with a steep drop below 30Hz. This is pretty effective with WELL-DESIGNED 5 or 6 1/2" two-ways that don't have noisy ports (that as well are tuned below 60Hz or so). Gives good extension WITHOUT the excess warmth of a regular tone control. You have to start with a decent speaker, though. The other nice thing is that you could leave this EQ in and still bypass the other controls for a cleaner signal. Yet the preamp as a whole was the weakness of these receivers...the FM tuners the highlight. Still using my 7400 in the HT/second system.
austinaa
6 posts
 
Simple, you want enhanced bottom end, well, start at the source, your cd player can push out lots of bottom end and then there are cd players that are bass shy, same with needles and tonearms. find a source that hits the bottom end hard. The new music fidelity dac which is coming out in may I think, I have the prototype, you'll be amazed on the bass that comes out!!!! find a neutral transport for it, it can be a cheap pioneer or an expensive wadia, listen to this dac, and you'll hear it. Oh, and good solid state amp would help just as much, like Bryston amplifier for example, I don't think you'll need anymore bass than when you listen to one of their amps, especially the new 14B, ha. your cables help, speaker cable, experiment, this way all your bass is natural and in full detail, and trust me, with this combination, you'll have all the bass you can handle or want. I have bookshelf speakers that produce more bottom end, not to mention better bottom end than many floor standing speakers. The stands helped incredibly, my stands are so heavy being filled that it takes two guys to carry one speaker stand.
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