[pkoh70]

Hi guys,

glad to find Hyperion owners' circle here.
I see there a lot of good exchanges happening that are very informative.. I am about to become a 938 owner and have a question...
More I read about 938 on-line, it seems that there is a considerable bass control challenge with them depending on room size/placement, gears used, etc... One thing I can not stand is listening to speakers with overblown bass that ruins the whole listening experience..I tend to like them with rock solid bass. Unfortunately, my living room is very small so I am not sure how these 938s will do...
Do any of you have any good experience/s with handling bass on 938 ? good suggestions/idea ?
One thing that popped on my mind was plugging those front ports with foams but I am not sure if it even work or if it is approved method by the manufacturer ? I already have purchased isonodes, speaker bases, silver jumper cables to prep. for 938 arrival but most paranoid about the bass..

Also, do any of you know if Hyperion is working on any upgrade for 938s to improve on some of the confirmed improvment area ? I know that some companies like Von Schweikert offers upgrade path and 80% trade credit policy to keep customers loyal and satisfied...

any comments/suggestion are most welcome...

Oranda

[viperrabbit]

My experience is quite the opposite.  I am getting weak bass with my 938.  Hopefully a change of power amp will solve the problem.
I am using a 200W solid state but it is over 10 years old. 

I am using soundcare spikes under the tweeter/mid and bass units - sound is clearer and resolution is better.  Definitely a keeper.

I am very keen to know who is having good bass with their 938 and the power amps that have enough juice to give solid & tight bass.

[Nick Bassman]

Hey welcome to the "club".

I haven't experienced any bass control problems in my 18' X 12' X 8' room.
I do have them well out of the corners and my listening seat is well out from the rear wall.
My experience has been that almost all speakers will drive room resonances to some extent.
I have found that care in placement both of seat and speakers is most of the answer and best
of all is free. I am using a Graaf GM50B amp to drive my 938s. How about asking the dealer to
set them up in your home before making the final purchase ? That would ease your mind or
confirm your worries.

Cheers

Nick

[malcolmsmith]

My room size is 15feet x 11feet 8inches x 8feet. I have the hyperions(back of bass speaker)2feet from the back wall which is a solid stone wall and 2feet 6inches from side walls,one of these being a solid stone outside wall the other a stud dividing wall.My amplifier is a modern British design pre and power transistor,never been a valve fan, power amp over 200watts per channel,this combination only purchased this year but I have used this firm(AVI) for last 12 years.The speakers are angled in very slightly around 10 degrees. All this leads to a very smooth sound from around 30/35 hertz to as higher than I can hear. The bass is excellent firm,defined notes no problems there at all.I also use an equivalent of Isonodes to sepatate two units-this really makes a difference.Room furnishings are soft i.e. room carpeted settees heavy curtains.Speakers are also bi-wired a proper cable link to other speaker connection.I hope above gives you an idea of room etc.I found the 938s pretty easy to set up and positioning not over critical,I think the soft furnishings help and "scattered" book and CD shelves also help break up possible standing waves.

[Doubleblind]

My room size is 15feet x 11feet 8inches x 8feet. I have the hyperions(back of bass speaker)2feet from the back wall which is a solid stone wall and 2feet 6inches from side walls,one of these being a solid stone outside wall the other a stud dividing wall.My amplifier is a modern British design pre and power transistor,never been a valve fan, power amp over 200watts per channel,this combination only purchased this year but I have used this firm(AVI) for last 12 years.The speakers are angled in very slightly around 10 degrees. All this leads to a very smooth sound from around 30/35 hertz to as higher than I can hear. The bass is excellent firm,defined notes no problems there at all.I also use an equivalent of Isonodes to sepatate two units-this really makes a difference.Room furnishings are soft i.e. room carpeted settees heavy curtains.Speakers are also bi-wired a proper cable link to other speaker connection.I hope above gives you an idea of room etc.I found the 938s pretty easy to set up and positioning not over critical,I think the soft furnishings help and "scattered" book and CD shelves also help break up possible standing waves.

Thanks Malcolm,

I will receive my 938s 9 October. 

I have a dedecated theatre room with the dimensions of 18 x 11 x8.3 in height, so my room size is similar to yours. 

I too have British power, ARCam AVR300.  I am limited in my room setup, but saying that, I will guess that my speaker positioning will be similar to yours.

I have an audiophile friend who is making up the copper bi-wires for me as I write this.  Bi-wiring seems to be the flavour of choice of 938 owners.
 

[chao]

Hyperion HPS938  with DK Design MK2 , in small room , no problem at all with the bass.
The Arcam AVR300 with HPS 938 : best result if you bi-amp the HPS938.
The AVR is a 7 channel amp , you can use the extra 2 outputs to bi-amp the Hyperions.

[Dracule1]

Welcome aboard Oranda,

In my experience, bass boom is probably the most difficult issue to solve for the 938s.  My room dimension is very similar to Malcolm's.  Like others have suggested, keeping the speakers away from the walls helps, and you may get very good results with various forms of bass traps if you are willing to spend several hundred for those.  I've had 3 separate amps with my 938s and by far the best result have been obtained with my new McAlister 70 watt tube amp (review in process).  The bass on these amps are better (punchier and more natural) than most SS I've heard, so the amplifier does definately matter.  Bass taming is still an art unless you want to spend mucho dinero.

[viperrabbit]

Thanks everyone for the inputs... problem must be with my power amp then.  My room is 21' X 12' X 9', speakers are 3.5 feet from rear wall.
I plan to listen to several amps (Primaluna 5, waiting to listen to Primaluna 7, ASL 1009, Nuforce 9) in the coming few weeks.

[pkoh70]

All, thanks for all the replies...

I guess I was all worried for nothing because I recieved my 938s today, and guess what? in my small room, I had absolutely no problem at all with boomy bass. The sound went lower and deeper but absolutely tight and controlled...I guess I would have to wait for them to loosen up and see how the sound changes, but I can only think that they will get even better and tigher once they break in, right ?

Any of you know how the soun changes after break in ? do bass get loose or tighter ?

thank guys...

[Roy S]

From my experience, the bass will tighten up while at the same time, dig deeper after around 50+ hours. Out of the box, the bass is a little wooly.

[PaulFolbrecht]

I drive them with 28W Consonance Cyber 845 single-ended-triode monoblocks.  The bass is taut - it is perfect.  They do not go down to the lowest regions with any amplification, as you know, so I do use a Velodyne sub to go flat down to <20Hz.

I have tried many amps, including class AB solid-state, class D, Tripath, push-pull tube, even an 8W 2A3 SET, and the 845s.  Though the speakers are very revealing, they do sound surpringly good with about any decent amplification.

The 845 SETs are my favorite with the Red Wine Audio tripath amp a close 2nd.

I bought demo speakers but they have opened up - and the bass has gotten tighter - to such an extent I have doubts as to whether the amps' break-in explains it!  In other words I think they may continue to improve well into their life!

I use IsoNodes between the boxes and this one tweak probably makes as much difference as switching amps....

[pkoh70]

thanks Paul..

You know since joining this circle, I realized that not only people here are knowledgable about Hyperion but in audio as a whole..
I am learning so much as I read all the replies in this circle..

It is good to be a Hyperion owner right now..