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Need advice for full range speaker with bottom end

Hi,

My current set up is Innersound Eros MKI with
Antique Sound Lab 1006 845 amp and cary slp98 pre. Altogether a pretty satisfying setup for beautify mids and highs.

I do notice and miss the bottom end on some music. So I'm interested in setting up a second system with some of the other parts I've already have lying around. I have a pair of Nuforce 8's and a Benchmark Dac. Given the Benchmark has volume control, I figure I can skip the preamp and go with just adding a pair of speakers. I will source this system with my computer and the Squeezbox 3 to the DAC.

I'm hoping to find a pair of full range speaker that can give me what I'm missing and still resemble some of the mids and highs I get out of my innersound panels.

My hope is to keep things sane within the $2-4K range...hopefully closer to 2k than 4K. I plan to be buying use to keep cost down.

Anyone know of some good bargins for full range speakers that can hit close to 20hz?

Gerald

geraldedison
plato
1,543 posts
 
The Eros definitely did not go into the 20Hz's with any kind of weight or authority when I had them...

Now I have the VMPS RM30's which seem more potent in the low bass than the Eros (regardless of the Eros published specs, which are very optimistic in my experience). The midrange and highs of the VMPS are at least the equal of the Eros except that they are more dynamic, detailed, and focused (and have a much wider sweet spot).

Another really great looking and great sounding speaker to consider is the Acoustic Zen Adagio. I heard them at a friends and liked them quite a bit.

I also had the Benchmark DAC1 for a while. It is very detailed out of it's volume-controlled outputs, but loses dynamics and bass extension/slam when used that way. I recommend using a good active preamp or buffered passive preamp with it. You can also take the output from the high-current headphone outputs and it will have sufficient bass slam, although it will lose some finesse and detail that way.
audiokinesis
1,872 posts
 
Gerald,

True 20 Hz bass extension is a rare and expensive commodity, especially if you aren't going to use subwoofers. Notice that I stipulated "true" - I know of fairly popular speakers that fall short of their claimed bass extension by nearly an octave.

Are you really sure that's what you need? Very few two-channel recording have content below 27 Hz because there are no common acoustic instruments other than the organ that have fundamentals below 27 Hz. Do you listen to organ music or electronica with ultradeep bass? If so, then trying to approach 20 Hz makes sense.

Anyway, my nomination would be used Gallo Ref 3 or 3.1 with the afterburner bass amp. That will get you into the lower 20's.

Duke
newbee
4,093 posts
 
To add to Duke's comments, consider whether your room can support speaker output down to 20hz or keep the extra hz's under control. A speaker that rolls at 32hz can be a blessing in a lot of rooms. FWIW. :-)

P.S. It just dawns on me to ask - Are you sure that the sound you are looking for is not the absolute bottom but an increase in what I would call the power zone, i.e. 200 to 500 hz +/-. I have found that missing in some panels or electrostats. As You say great highs and mids, but the 'bass' lacked richness.
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