jumping back in, where should i start?


Hi, I have owned cary, belles, joule, and audio physic tempo's. all has been sold and am back to my first system that gave me a taste of what hi fi can be. I am wanting to upgrade but just not sure where to start, or how much of a difference will i see by bi amping my speakers? Currently I have b&w 630 speakers with a rotel rb980 power amp with a 940 tuner/preamp with a 991 cd player, i am wanting a warmer sound with fuller sounding bass. mostly listen to blues, rock,thank you for any info.Scott
52tiger

Showing 2 responses by saki70

I don't know your speakers but speaker efficiency needs to be considered if you are looking for low volume performance . By low volume I mean a level that does not require one to raise their voice for normal conversation in the listening area .

At first glance your 91db. speakers would look like decent candidates for low volume listening . But , a couple of other things need to be considered here .
1.) What does the impedance curve look like ? Does it dip way down in the bass region or have other wild swings ? You want a curve that is fairly flat near and above 8 ohms .
2.) What does the crossover network look like ? You need something that will use a minimum amount of power to operate it .
A single driver speaker would be ideal but a two way isn't bad if there is not a complicated network doing the division . Something like mine , which only have a capacitor , would be nice .
3.) What size is your bass driver ? It takes more power to drive a 15" woofer as opposed to a 5" one .

When considering low level listening it is important to get as much use out of the first watt of your amp as possible . If much or all of that first watt is used to operate your crossover network and/or drive a big woofer then you will need to increase the wattage , turn it up , to get good sound characteristics .

I hope that this helps you .

Good luck .
No Bob , I can't explain it . That sort of stuff makes my head hurt !
I just talk about the things that I have found to work for me .

52tiger ;
I haven't seen any size or characteristics listed for your room . I would assume that ,if you are using a 7" driver for a woofer , you are in a fairly small room and sitting rather close to the speakers .
Check here on what others have written about in regards to subwoofer use for 2 channel music . It can be quite nice but it can be very difficult to get right . I was not able to get it right and I have heard a few audio salons miss the mark as well .
Thorman's advice may get you closer to where you want to be . I have found more body/presence with tubes , in my price range , than any of the solid state that I have owned or auditioned .

Good luck .