My weakest link??

Joeldoss, The grass isn't always greener, sometimes its just fake grass. I couldn't recommend a subwoofer in your room - it would produce the same (or very similar) problems that full range speakers would in the bass. I hope you didn't interpert my "fairly" comment as a put down - in fact it was an understated compliment. Something to think about, but not to rush into - if you like your Tylers and if they are suitable for tubes - explore that possibility. In a small room you wouldn't need that much power. See if you can get a loan of a mid powered push/pull tube amp - you might be surprised at difference it can make.

Newbee, thanks and don't worry - no "put down" was felt on this end. Do you have any push/pull integrateds that you might recommend? I'd like to keep things simple.
Joel

Joel,

I have had very similar equipment/room. I've owned the Plinius 8200 and the Tyler Acoutics Taylo Reference Monitors. Both of these pieces were good, but they can be bettered, especially in a small room.

My current system is a Cary CD-308 w/volume control direct into a pair of (slightly modified)BottleHead Paramour 2A3 SET Tube amps or a Dodd 8 Watter Tube amp. Speakers are Reference 3A MM De Capos. My room is maybe slightly bigger than yours and it has a pretty sever bass "suck out".

My current setup is FAR MORE enjoyable in my smallish room than was the Plinius/Tyler setup. Both the Paramours and the Dodd amps provide incredible value. These things sound WAY more expensive than they actually are.

Compaired to my current setup, the Tylers/Plinius had a significant lack of bass in my room. The De Capos have amazing bass in my smallish room and that is using either 3.5watts/channel or 8 watts/channel. In my small room, the De Capos will play louder than I can tolerate. And they are being pushed by a 3.5 watt amp!!

For the price, my system sounds BIG, open, lush, refined and expensive. But the beauty of it is the fact that it was relatively inexpensive (used/DIY).

My guess is weakest link is synergy. If you are curious about speakers, I would recommend the Reference 3A MM De Capos. They are tremendous, but a little pricey new. I bought my pair used. I would consider a pristine used pair a bargain at anything less that $1400-1500. They would work OK with the Plinius and they would also allow you to try a small SET or push/pull tube amp. They are pretty effecient and a very stable load. You can power them with almost anything. They even sound surprisingly good connected to my Sony ES HT receiver.

My $.02 worth. My room, my system, my ears! YMMV, etc, etc........

Enjoy,

TIC

The room.

What did you expect from me?

The Listening Room

Unless you have great results with an amp that has ultimate bass extention I doubt you will get much more out of the Tylers. I had "better" bass response in my room from my Totem 1 speakers which are much smaller(bass is the biggest challange in my room also). Even with a pair of subs I never got the Tylers to work that well in my system, but if you keep them add a sub. They sound best out from the wall anyway. If you search 'Tyler' here you will find you are not the only one with questions about the Reference Monitor's bass. I could not get away from a highlighting of detail compared to the rest of the sound. Loads of reviews indicate that others have enjoyed them so you may be able to get your setup to work for you. Good luck. ps Newbee says no sub but you can move the sub around and possibly find a spot where it (they) works in your room.