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Usher cp-6381, lacking in bass?

First I will roughly describe my system
Usher cp-6381 speakers
Krell s350 cd player
audio research ls2 preamp
krell kav250a power amp

My listening room is less than ideal I know but it is what it is. It is basicaly the sun room or Florida room and is made up of windows all the way round including back into the house, floor is ceramic tiled. Speakers sit on rugs on spikes on their cast iron bases about 12 feet apart and about 10 feet from my normal listening position.

I find the soundstage and voices to be impressive, however the lower bass is not, what is there is nice and tight but does not seem to go overly low. I also realise the amp is really a home theater amp hence the kav monicker but it was available and affordable...lol.

Room and layout cannot be changed for practical reasons at this stage so what might anybody more seasoned suggest to try and increase lower bass response and punch a little bit?
I mostly listen to hard rock both old and new.
Preamp? Power amp? CD Player, Speakers?
Any or all could be my concern, have had this setup like this for a good 2 years and am happy but just would like to take it to another level if possible without a second mortage!
Thank you

uberwaltz
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
4,946 posts
 
Thank you Al!
Couple of thoughts here....how best to wire with speaker terminals? Can i just piggyback another speaker cable from one set of terminals on the Krell to the sub or?
Also bear in mind this is just a test as the REL belongs in the ht rig and from what I heard from the Sonus Faber speakers this morning needs to stay there...lol.
Thoughts on a reasonable priced sub if this test helps out?
Thank you
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
4,946 posts
 
Another option I could consider for a sub is to get a unpowered sub and a dedicated sub amp which I could feed with a line out direct out of the ls2?
Thoughts?
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Yes, assuming you have the Neutrik Speakon cable that is normally used to connect the unbalanced speaker-level input of REL subs to amp outputs, and assuming the amp is not being used in bridged mode, just piggy-back the wires from that cable onto the amp's output terminals.  (Red and Yellow to right + and left + on the amp, respectively, although it wouldn't matter if those connections were interchanged, and Black to either right - or left - on the amp).

Regarding a recommendation for a new sub, the brands Soix mentioned earlier seem to generally garner favorable comments, although I have no experience with them or with other competitive models.  My only suggestion, given my earlier comments and assuming that you would want to purchase one sub rather than two, is to be sure to choose a model that provides left and right speaker-level inputs.  There are a lot of subs which don't meet those criteria.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al
   
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
Another option I could consider for a sub is to get a unpowered sub and a dedicated sub amp which I could feed with a line out direct out of the ls2?
There aren’t a great many choices of unpowered subs that are available these days, and you would have to choose an amp having very high input impedance to minimize the possibility of sonic issues resulting from item 2 in my first post above. So I suspect it would be best to go with a powered sub providing speaker-level inputs.

Regards,
-- Al


uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
4,946 posts
 
Al, again many thanks for your time and information.
At present I do not have the speakon connector for the rel but that is easily resolved, just glad to know I can then just piggy back off the Krell.
a couple of the svs subs i quickly looked at did NOT have the speaker level inputs only line level so have to research thouroughly before i think about buying anything
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