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Maybe Leaving SET for Solid State because I want bass

Looking for a recommendation of an amp to power a pair of 12 in 2 way bass reflex studio monitor with 96db sensitivity. My SET amp sounds lovely and pure but is bass shy. Looking for a sweet solid state amp with some slam. I've heard my setup with a pair of Herron Monos and a Pass Sit-3. Herron had the bass but was otherwise unsatisfying. Pass was a little lean. Budget is $3-5K on the used market. Even something on the lower cost end that would give me a taste of what I'm looking for as proof of concept would be great to start out with.

Thanks in advance!

dhcod
mike4597's avatar
mike4597
303 posts
 

Take a look at Odyssey amps.  I have Kismet monoblocs and when bass is in the music it IS there!

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audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,608 posts
 

Why not just buy 1-2 powered subs cross them over 10 db or so above where your

speakers run out , then you still have your SET sound and great bass, SVS subs 

have app to set or change from your phone or tablet, .

toro3's avatar
toro3
505 posts
 

OP, I know you decided on Atmasphere’s Class D amps, but out of pure curiosity:

  • Agree with adding subwoofers, but presuming this was never in the cards for you for natural reasons such as aesthetics or space constraints which is understandable. 
  • When you used tone controls you stated “the tone controls showed just how much bass the speakers were capable of, even if the rest of the sound was less than ideal. Why no one makes a modern high end preamp that has tone controls is beyond me.” Did you feel that your amp had a good grip on the woofers? Or did you feel like the bass was a little loose given the innate limitation of your SET amp?
  • If satisfied with the bass presentation utilizing tone controls in conjunction with your amp, Decware makes a very transparent tube-based equalizer that does wonders, which can be found here. I know this is after the fact + the long waitlist, but it’s an alternative to the Schitt  equalizer that others have mentioned.

I absolutely love the aesthetics of those Diatone’s. Curious about your experience with Atmasphere’s Class D amps - please report back. I’ve been looking at both Atma-Sphere and Laiv’s GaNM amps for the summer down here in Phoenix.

erik_squires
17,539 posts
 

IMO, anyone doing measurements that doesn’t have a way of dealing with that isn’t playing with a full deck. Get a variac for heaven’s sake! Then you can insure the line Voltage is correct by doing measurements. 

Not sure why this came up but if you are worried/wondering if your line is sagging, and not producing full current consider a simple plug in meter like this one.  If you find it is sagging, I think maybe Ralph ( @atmasphere ) meant to suggest a voltage regulator, which can be had via PS Audio regenerators or much more affordably from Furman with a conditioner that has has actual voltage regulation. 

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