Hegel H160 and Focal Electra 1008Be sounding bass-less


Hi - 

When I had auditioned the H160 at the dealer with the same set of speakers it sounded gorgeous with meaty bass even on the bookshelves. When i received the new H160 6 years ago we thought it would open up eventually but its been 6 years and about 50 hours or so on it and yet it continues to remain dry. Any clues what might be going on. Also recently I had crackling in the left channel for which I had to drop it off at the service center to get it fixed. I have another Marantz built like a tank and have owned it for 15 years+ with no trouble. Not sure if there are any similar issues folks are seeing with Hegel in general.
Thx

pkolakkar3

Sounds like it could be a room/speaker placement issue assuming there’s nothing wrong with the amp or speakers.  

You put 50hrs on the amp in 6 years? Usually amps and most other components need about 200hrs to sound their best. 

Anyways as to your bass issues, you may be sitting in the bass null point. To test it, set it all up in another room. With small speakers and small integrated it’s a quick test.

It’s not the amp. Most Focal speakers I’ve heard (except for the Utopia range) are bass shy. I’ve owned Hegel amps and they will produce the bass the speakers are capable of unless your speakers need more power than what the amp can produce, which is not the case here. Get a sub or position the speakers closer to the back wall to enhance the bass

I owned the H160 paired with Dali Fazon F5 speakers.

It sounded lifeless so I sold it. There wasn't much bass 

at all with it. I hooked the same speakers up to a NAD M10

and it sounded better. The bass improved quite a bit

which was surprising to me because on paper it's a

far less powerful amp.