Von Schweikert VR4JR & Tube Amp???


So...without boring you with too much details, I've been FORCED to move my rig into a small dedicated room in my basement. I currently have the above speakers, Marantz SA8260 SACD/CD, Marantz PM7200 (95wpc), Kimber Silver Streak, Audioquest Montblanc & CV-6. My room is only about 12x10 and it's in a corner of my finished basement so, I have two walls that are poured concrete behind the paneling. Obviously, the sound sucks. Since the room is fully enclosed and mine alone, I literally had to surround the room with R-15 Insulation covered with heavy felt moving-blankets and built some baffling in the corners. Ceiling is typical foam drop-ceiling tiles. Floor is carpeted. After some experimentation with speaker placement, I have ACCEPTABLE sound accross most frequencies except the bass (too boomy). Now here's the question: I'm hoping to make the following hardware changes as final adjustments since I might be here for awhile: Replace the PM7200 with a Primaluna Prologue 2 or Manley Stringray and the Audioquest cables with Kimber 8TC. I don't have the experience with or the ability to audition the considered new gear but, what do you wise and insightful folks think???
pawlowski6132

Showing 2 responses by oldpet

Hi Pawlowski6123
I agree with the above posters who are advocating getting your room correct, acoustically speaking.

Try Bass traps to tame your boomy bass problem. Every room has built in sonic charastics. It's physics. Every frequency has a certain length to its sound wave. The size of your room has a direct effect on either, cancelling out certain frequencies OR accentuating certain frequencies. It all depends on the length of the wave (frequency), and the distance they are given (inside dimensions of your room) to travel.

The beauty of "bass traps" is, they will do both. That is, they will absorb a targeted frequency while redirecting (diffusing) other frequencies. I know that bass traps are expensive BUT, you can make them yourself if you would like. The link below is a description as to how to build your own.

http://www.teresaudio.com/haven/traps/traps.html

Just remember - the larger the DIAMETER of the trap, the lower the frequency that will be absorbed.

I am using 18" 16" and 9" tubes In my room. They are SYMETRICALLY placed around the room. The correction is real and not subtle.

Of course building your own traps will require some time and effort on your part. But, you will save $$$.

bets of luck in taming the boom in your room.
Sorry - I forgot:
Here is a very helpful link showing HOW to use tube traps.

http://www.acousticsciences.com/articles/iar89.htm

Getting/making them is one thing, but knowing how to use them, is what will get you to where you want to be.

best