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What should I upgrade?

Hi everyone!

I have a Bel Canto s300 (300 watts @ 4ohms) driving my Magnepan 1.6qr's. I'd like to get more defined low end throughout the volume spectrum.

Which choice is best and why?

1. Upgrade to the s500 (500 watts)
2. Add a JL Audio f112? subwoofer to existing setup.
3. Add room acoustic treatments, etc. (walls are wood, floors are cork.) *If choosing this option what is recommended?

PS. I use a Bel Canto Dac3 and stream from Mac ibook G4 via Airport Express using glass Toslink or hardwired via USB.

Devon
"Audiophile in training"
develyn50

Showing 2 responses by macdadtexas

macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
get some Bel Canto Ref1000 monoblocks. Get the original model for a better deal. You will be shocked at how your speakers will sound. They are underpowered right now.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
OK, reading through threads like this I always like to check out the systems of the respondents to see if they own, or have owned, the specific gear you are asking questions about.

Here are some of my observations from someone who has owned Maggies for years (and sadly others, but I always come back to the Maggies) and used many different amps and subs with them. Here we go:

1) get a new amp first. You won't know what else you need until you find out what the Maggies can do with a well matched amp. Currently you are just a wee bit under powered. Bel Canto amps sound great with 1.6qr's. I had the BelCanto Evo4 bridged and it was excellent. The best amp I ever used with my 1.6qr's was the Innersound ESL amp. It was absolutely stellar, and woke up the the whole speaker, bass response from my Velodyne DD15 set up program was measured consistantly (in a room about your size with the speakers 4 ft from the wall) at 40hrz. The next I would suggest would be the BelCanto Ref1000 MB that I suggested at the beginning of the thread.

2) Only after you have done that, you may want to try a sub, but a very, very fast sub. Also, it depends on the type of connections you want to make. The JL Audio is a great sub, but you will have to split the outputs of your DacIII to get a line level signal to them, and I think they are pretty expensive. There are other very good subs you can get that you can run the speaker level connection to, that integrate very well, for much less: Velodyne DD series, Rel B series (you can run these for both HT through low level and for stereo through speaker level at the same time, very cool, oh yeah, and sound GREAT), Vandersteen 2wq (great match) are all excellent choices as well.

3) Your 4vs is an excellent cable, especailly since it's copper, and helps mellow out any potential brightness. You could move up to the 8tc for relatively little money, or you could add another set of 4vs and use one strand for each connection. That could be an even better idea.

Good luck, your building an excellent system.
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