Rogue Audio Sphynx and Martin Logan Odysseys

Thanks for your responses and I guess I exposed my ignorance of both biamping in general and the capability of my own amp. I'm in the process of learning terms such as active, passive, horizontal, vertical, etc., and I think what I needed to ask has to do with using pre outs from the Sphinx to a more powerful stereo amp supplying the speakers. I'm not totally convinced that my bass needs more damping or even if simply adding more power would accomplish this. I spoke with a Martin Logan tech who didn't disagree with the logic of this proposed solution, but my very expert audiophile Rogue dealer believes that the Sphinx should keep the bass pretty "tight" by itself. I'm just starting my learning curve and have a relatively limited budget as regards equipment purchases so any and all advice will be appreciated.

I would not assume that the bass issues you are experiencing are necessarily due to not having enough power. There is much more to amplification and speaker-amp interactions than power.

You bought your amp at a dealer. So have you inquired with this dealer about this issue? Dealer support is one of the main advantages of buying from a dealer as opposed to used from a private seller here or elsewhere.

There is no doubt that opinions about damping factor will vary. In the past, I did believe that a very high damping factor would be beneficial to control the bass, however, now I think these high specifications will have very little, if anything, of an effect on the bass for most systems. Take a look at this link,

http://www.trueaudio.com/post_013.htm

I agree that you can’t assume the amp is the problem, but you can’t rule it out based on damping factor. Trying a different amp may be the only way to determine if the Sphinx is a good match for your speakers. Will your dealer let you try one of his demo units? Also, what is the rest of your system, source, cables, etc.?

Yes, damping factor is one potential consideration among many others. Though I have had instances where damping factor was clearly the problem in the bass of the speakers I was running (over-damping the bass in my case, though under-damping may be a more common problem in more conventional set-ups).

My main point is that it is important not to leap to the conclusion that more power will solve this problem. There are a number of potential contributors to this problem you describe.

Sent from my iPad

I appreciate these responses mostly because of your sharing knowledge but partly because it confirms the fact that it wasn't just my limited experience keeping me from making what I thought was going to be a simple and straightforward fix. It might help if, as suggested, I provide some detail describing my equipment and listening area.

My listening area is my living room which restricts my latitude in several ways including the inability to use spikes on our wooden floors, placement of speakers relative to furniture, etc. I have done some experimenting with placement using the Jim Powers flashlight method of adjusting toe in of curved ESLs, and moving them further away from the front wall (this actually seemed to help a little). My equipment is not top shelf audiophile grade but I think it is pretty good relative to what I've heard described as more common consumer based products. This is what I have:

1. Martin Logan Odysseys which I've had for around 13 years, with the original panels. They still perform beautifully at least in the mid to high frequency range.

2. Rogue Audio Sphinx hybrid amplifier (100 wpc) which I've had for 2 weeks.

3. Shanling solid state CD player which I've been very happy with.

4. Sony multi-disk " jukebox" with a California Audio Labs DAC. Before installing the DAC listening from this source was not good at all, but convenient.

All of my equipment was purchased used except for the amplifier and I have used other amps with more power with these speakers including Yamaha and Pioneer surround receivers, and Arcam, and McCormack amps. I'm not a bass loving listener and my previous appreciation of bass was based on how low and loud it was, especially when I was setup for surround sound movie listening. I've now become more aware of bass in terms of how well it represents musical instruments. The example that I've heard expressed in regard to bass tightness or damping is the reproduction of "kick" drums.

When I auditioned the amp, the dealer was using a very high end tube based Shanling CD player and a $3300 pair of bookshelf sized speakers and the sound was the best I've ever heard on any combination of components. That's when I became aware of bass tightness and the fact that this amp was capable of controlling bass, at least with these smaller and lighter speakers. I don't expect to duplicate what I heard there and I'm almost sorry I heard it, but I do want to improve bass control because I'm otherwise very satisfied with my setup as it is. If I don't have to add addition power but, if I have to, I will.

I hope I haven't stepped over the line in terms of thread length but hope this detail will help with a solution.