amp or pre-amp contributes to bass, mid-range, and high?

Tweaker · « **Reply #20 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 07:57 pm »

The power amp has the job of controlling the speaker. Tight bass is going to result if your amplifier has a high enough damping factor to do a good job controlling the back and forth movement of the woofer. Assuming the rest of your gear can reproduce the full frequency range, (it can), then the amp will determine how fast/tight the bass is. The woofers size, mass, and motor size/strength are important factors as well.

michaelv · « **Reply #21 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 08:06 pm »

I played around with speaker placement last night and got the bass i want to hear. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's fit my taste right now. I agree that some CDs recorded with strong bass, others don't.

Thanks all for taking time to help me out with questions and answers.

alpha_03 · « **Reply #22 on:** 21 Jan 2006, 10:16 pm »

Well from reading all of your postings michaelv, might I ask:

What speakers do you have? And where do you have them placed in reference to your room dimentions?

About how big is your room and what is in it?

What brand name and model number of gear are you using?

Finally, what is your goal? That is to say, what is it that you seek to make better in your listening enviroment?

Answer the above and everyone here-in can offer suggestions that I am sure will help you. It sounds to me like the speaker you have is to big for the room you have them placed in, that is if the bass sounds best in the far corner. If this is the case, try inverting polarity on the woofer(s) of one speaker cabnient and give a listen.

roymail · « **Reply #23 on:** 21 Jan 2006, 11:43 pm »

Michaelv,

You've probably heard the expression... "less is more." I agree with _scotty_ about the importance of the source material (cd) and source player. Find the best cd you own or can borrow, one you just love listening to because the recording is so wonderful that there is total absence of any grittyness, distortion, siblance, digital artifacts, etc. No matter how reasonably loud you play it, it does not compress and everything about it sounds great. *IMPORTANT* If you don't have a recording that sounds like what I just described, then you definitely have a weak link or two. I'd would start evaluating your system from the front end... the CDP. But, in truth, any weak link can have a very noticeable effect on the overall sonic presentation. However, chances are you do have one or more of those special recordings which will allow you to hear just how good or not so good things are in your system/room. Your system may not be as bad as you think, but regardless, it can always be improved.

I have a very simple system that is easy to evaluate. Each piece of gear has been modified and the sound is scary good on many CDs, but others (more than a few) sound like trashy crap! It's been hard for me to accept that many cds are poorly recorded in today's high tech world. They are just fine for the car where road noise is always a factor, jambox, portable cd player, or for the average midfi home system. The average listener will likely fit into one of these categories. But any high resolution system will leave you shaking your head when you hear what is really on that disc. I use to believe that Redbook standards should somehow prevent this from happening. Maybe I dreamed it, but it ain't so! I apologize for digressing.

BTW, before I upgraded my midfi system, someone advised that I remove my modest SS preamp and try a DacT CT2 10K stepped attenuator since any 2 volt CDP has enough output to drive the system with 90db speakers like mine were at the time. So I bought a used DacT and assembled a simple passive volume controller just to experiment. That single experience really openned my eyes to how much difference one change can make for the better. I would not have believed it if I hadn't heard it. That's just an example... not necessarily a recommendation. Any weak link can make a big difference.

One final thought. As others have said, you can assemble a very nice sounding system without investing lots of $$$. Hope this helps in some way.

-- Roy

oris98 · « **Reply #24 on:** 22 Jan 2006, 12:31 am »

Hi all,

My upgrade bugs is active again. Please see my signature of my gear. I have about $2 - 2.5k of budget for new audio equipment. I am debating where is my weakest link in my system. Over all, I am quite satisfy with what I've got right now but want to go for further improvment. I am thinking if I should spend the money for modding my Benchmark DAC1 by Empirical Audio or should I upgrade my preamp to ModWright 9SE ? Also, someone mentioned to me about a new brand of AMP (Luminance Audio) with a ultra fast amplification and has 1000 damping factor which greps the drivers solidly to provide extreme tight bass and realistics music instrument replay. This is not a very popular amp yet but according the CEC 2005, it has very good review with the ultra high end speakers in the show. With only 150W into 8ohm speakers, someone said this amp sounded better than the Bryston 7BSST for comparison.
Any suggestion and comments would be appreciated ...

Many thanks in advance..

michaelv · « **Reply #25 on:** 22 Jan 2006, 05:06 am »

Quote from: alpha_03

Well from reading all of your postings michaelv, might I ask:

What speakers do you have? And where do you have them placed in reference to your room dimentions?
>>> I have Totem Forrest. and I place them 2 feet from sidewall and 3 feet from backwall. My room is 12x14 and i sit 9 feet away from the speakers.

About how big is your room and what is in it?
>>> Room size is 12x14. I have bass trap in all corners and first refection point (DIY by OC 703)

What brand name and model number of gear are you using?
>>> Rotel CDP RCD-1072, Rotel pre-amp RC-1070 and amp RB-1080 (200wpc), Musical Fidelity Tube buffer

Finally, what is your goal? That is to say, what is it that you seek to make better in your listening enviroment?
>> > I try to get better bass as i could not hear it loud and clear from begining.

Answer the above and everyone here-in can offer suggestions that I am sure will help you. It sounds to me like the spe ...

maxwalrath · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 Jan 2006, 05:12 am »

Quote from: oris98

Hi all,

My upgrade bugs is active again. Please see my signature of my gear. I have about $2 - 2.5k of budget for new audio equipment. I am debating where is my weakest link in my system. Over all, I am quite satisfy with what I've got right now but want to go for further improvment. I am thinking if I should spend the money for modding my Benchmark DAC1 by Empirical Audio or should I upgrade my preamp to ModWright 9SE ? Also, someone mentioned to me about a new brand of AMP (Luminance Audio) wit ...

I'd say the modwright, or maybe one of those new singlepower preamps everyone is talking about and a digital amp (patek, nuforce, tricked out Clari-T).

Or get new fancy cables.

amplifierguru · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 Jan 2006, 05:55 am »

Well there are many factors that can influence your tonal balance nuances even in an ostensibly flat system.

Starting in the bass: control is not just about damping factor but about eliminating the lows that your speaker can't reproduce, below it's cutoff. These simply muddy the sound with nonlinearity of cone excursion outside the linear range. A good HP filter at 1/2 Fc is a cleaner-upper.

Mids: right through the signal chain but particularly in the power amplifier, if Class AB is used, is good PSRR to eliminate half wave commutation artefacts from the signal path. Enlightened PCB design aids this.

Highs: same as mids as all n th harmonics end up in the treble where timbral and spatial detail lives. Additionally, an output R//L , if R is high can ring into capacitative speaker loads and boost or suppress the detail.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Greg