2. speakers
  3. 1123234618

Budget bookshelf system for acoustic bass

Need help deciding on a speaker system. I listen to mostly acoustic Jazz and am looking for a system that accurately reproduces the lush harmonics of the string bass and the clean timbres of brass and cimbles. Problem is it needs to be a bookshelf system and my budget is around $600 - 800. Do folks think I need a subwoofer or will a monitor with good response down to 40 or 45 hz suffice for the string bass? Obviousky if I go with a sub there wilk be some loss of coherence and I don't want a thumper to shake the room with HT special effects.

My system is a Linn Classic, Music Halll MMF-5 TT with Goldring 1012GX cartrige and Bellari VP129 pre-amp.

I'm thinking of three very different aproaches. 1) Magnepan MC-1 with a sub like the PSB SubSeries 5i or the Infinity PS10. 2) A budget monitor like the NHT SB3, PSB B25 or Infinity Primus 150. 3) One of the above monitors above with one of the above subs

Any suggestions? Thanks, PDenni
peterennis1
dekay's avatar
dekay
2,959 posts
 
Full size acoustic 4 string basses share the same low/open E string primary with that of full size electric basses (a bit higher than 41 HZ).

A full size 5 string bass (low/open string tuned to B) goes down to 31-32 Hz.

Other bass designs exist (a sub/concert bass to name one), but I doubt they come up often.
rackon
295 posts
 
This is easy.

For a bass loving, acoustic music fan on a budget I highly recommend the Nola Minis, around $700 and a wonderful speaker. If you must have a sub you can always add a used Alon Centris or a Nola Thunderbolt to the system, but with the Minis (formerly called Lil' Rascals) you won't miss much without the sub.

They're in a whole 'nother league compared to small boxes from PSB, NHT, Paradigm et al.

www.nolaspeakers.com
gmueller
19 posts
 
Lot's of good responses and choices here. I pointed out the B&W's because of the recent good write-up, meets the price point, gets pretty close to the frequency response goal and has sufficient sensitivity for the Linn. (Published sensitivity for the B&W is 90dB, same as the Triangle Titus-ES.)

I have absolutely no axe to grind on behalf of the B&W. (I run Vandersteens in my main system.) I heard them briefly and they are not unworthy of consideration at this price point IMO. In fact, I thought bass dynamics to be one of their strengths. That said, I think all of the choices pointed out here are good. Try and listen to a few of them and maybe some others, if you can, to see if the bass is satisfying. If not, then you may want to go with a sub and some truly small monitors.

As several have pointed out, the Linn has relatively low power output. Sensitivity is a spec to be looked at more closely in your case, although some mfrs seem to cheat a little on that number. Probably depends on the measurement technique.

Enjoy the hunting . . . .
More to discover