More Power or use subwoofer to boost bass for music


Hi,   just want to know if anyone can offer their opinions on how to boost the bass when listening to 2 channel music.

I just got a pair of B&W 804 D3 and would like to get more bass out of the speakers.   I remember the bass was pretty punchy when I heard it in the dealer showroom, but I don't seem to get that in my setup.   I currently have Parasound A31 power amp with 250 watts per channel.

So the question is whether I should get a more power amp, or add subwoofer to my 2 channel music.  I'm a little bit of a purist and would prefer not to use a subwoofer for music, but I'm open to this option.

I would definitely appreciate if anyone can share their experience/opinion.   Thanks very much.
128x128xcool
Not seeing too much on the JL Audio subwoofers. I think them and REL seem to have top experience and engineering know how.
I would disagree with the suggestion to moving the speakers closer to the wall.  That may give you more bass, but it will adversely affect the soundstage.  When I changed the power cord on my Audio Valve mono blocks and my Ref 6 to PAD Diamond I had deeper and tighter bass. That really improved the bass on my Bella Voce speakers.  Also, the speaker cable you use will also help. 
I would disagree with the suggestion to moving the speakers closer to the wall.
If you run subs moving them closer to the wall is very practical!
Persephone: "I disagree with the suggestion to moving the speakers closer to the wall."
     Persephone accurately and succinctly explained why this is true by stating: "That may give you more bass, but it will adversely affect the soundstage. "
atmasphere: "If you run subs moving them closer to the wall is very practical!"
        Atmasphere is correct whether he’s stating moving the subs closer to the wall may be very practical (either to reinforce the bass output or to keep them out of the way) or if he’s stating that moving the main speakers closer to the wall is very practical ( either to optimize their midrange, treble and stereo imaging or to keep them out of the way).
      Typically however, positioning the subs closer to the wall and corner results in more bass and positioning the main speakers closer to the wall results in poorer midrange, treble and stereo imaging performance being perceived at the listening seat, especially the quality of sound stage depth.

     I agree with both of these statements and they support my statements on my previous post about the inherent problem with obtaining, at a single designated listening seat, both very good bass performance AND very good midrange, treble and stereo imaging from a floor standing pair of speakers.
     The main problem is that all the drivers are permanently affixed, usually in a vertical configuration, in the same cabinet and the bass drivers therefore lack the very important ability to be separately and independently positioned in the room, and in relation to the listening seat, to optimize the bass performance along with the midrange/treble drivers lacking the ability to be separately and independently positioned in the room, and in relation to the listening seat, to optimize the midrange, treble and stereo imaging performance. One or the other can be optimized but not both since it’s highly unlikely that both are optimized at the exact same footprint location in the room.

     I believe most floor standing speaker owners position them in relation to their listening seat to optimize the midrange, treble and stereo imaging performance and just accept the less than optimal bass performance resulting from this compromise.
     My suggestion is that there’s a better solution and that floor standing speaker owners would be very pleasantly surprised by the significantly improved overall performance quality they would gain by incorporating at least a pair of good quality, properly positioned and configured subs into their systems.
     Of course, the bass power, impact and dynamics will definitely be improved but they’ll also clearly perceive the bass detail and realism as being significantly improved along with a greater sense of bass ease, naturalness, seamless integration with the main speakers and an improved overall stereo sound stage illusion being presented.
     Utilizing multiple subs in a system provides a higher capacity of bass quantity to meet any source demands but also provides significantly improved bass quality no matter the source or volume level chosen.

Tim


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