Which one of these are considered great improvement over my Salon2
TOGA -- Thu, 02/11/2010 - 02:47
Hi
In case I d like to maintain Salon2 's positive quality but would love greater bass punch and impact.
What is the best way?
TAD R1 or Wilson Maxx3 ?
Or should I just add one or two Revel's Rhythm2 sub(s)
Adding sub require more of expensive signal and AC cords and consumes more room space.
I have more than enough amplification power. but room is quite large and low sensitivity and low gain of
Preamp also play the part to reduce bass punch.
Never seen reviews of TAD R1 anywhere except positive comments from shows.
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The MAXX 3 will certainly give you more bass impact and extension, but it's three times the price of the Salon2. I would see if you can borrow the Revel subs to try in your system and see if that does it. Also, DACs vary greatly in their bass impact.
I'd start by adding a subwoofer and finding the best location for it using measurements. Find a location that does not have deep nulls and bring down the peaks using equalization. You also might want to consider high-passing your Salon2s in order to relieve them (and the amplifier driving them) of the strain of producing deep bass.
Have you taken any measurements of the frequency response at your listening position? The lack of bass punch that you are experiencing could be a result of having your listening position located at a null. Simply swapping out your Salon2s for bigger speaker may not resolve the issue. Try moving your listening position backwards and forwards to see if the bass response improves.
Expensive interconnects and power cords will do nothing to improve your situation. And (for crying out loud) unless your digital gear is broken, I seriously doubt the DAC has anything to do with your lack of bass impact.
I had no issues with the Salon2's bass impact, so Timothy McGeary is probably correct that it's a placement issue. Having formally reviewed, however, more than 150 DACs and CD players I can tell you that the DAC has a considerable influence of bass extension and dynamics. Just last week I performed head-to-head matched-level comparisons between two CD players and the difference in the bottom end was substantial.
Robert - I'd be curious to know what high-end dacs give the most bass impact? for instance, you've had substantial experience with the Berkeley Alpha dac. how does it compare with the latest dcs offerings, like the paganini, in the low end?
I have not heard the Paganini, but the dCS Puccini has outstanding bass dynamics and extension---perhaps just slightly better than the Alpha DAC.
You might also evaluate your room treatment. While placement will affect output at various frequencies, if you have long decay times at low frequencies due to lack of LF absorption, your best location from an output standpoint may sound still bad. Intuitively, you then adjust placement to cut output to kill the boom. But then you lack punch.
Similarly, I'd suggest analyzing your room modes. I've found that if you have big gaps in room modes, and those gaps are at the right frequencies, placement can only do so much to give you punch.
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