missing mid bass

[Sjess]

Here's my set up,

Paradigm Studio 40 v2's, and a HSU STF-1 sub, powered by an ASL AQ1003DT tube amp, with Ei 6ca7 Yugoslavia fat bottle tubes. I'm either listening to apple lossless on my apple TV through an Mhdt Paradisea DAC, or CD's from an OPPO dv981hd.

I have beautifully detailed mids and highs, and great sub bass, but I'm missing that mid bass sound. The bass is tight, it's just not got enough presence. I want to hear the bass effortlessly slam to the floor, and it just feels way back in the mix.

Any advice on where to start?

I could roll some tubes, maybe the electro harmonix EL34's?

I love the tone of the amp, but do I need solid state to power the kind of bass I want?

Is there a better speaker pairing with the ASL?

Is this going to be my quest for the rest of eternity?

 

[highfigh]

Here's my set up,

Paradigm Studio 40 v2's, and a HSU STF-1 sub, powered by an ASL AQ1003DT tube amp, with Ei 6ca7 Yugoslavia fat bottle tubes. I'm either listening to apple lossless on my apple TV through an Mhdt Paradisea DAC, or CD's from an OPPO dv981hd.

I have beautifully detailed mids and highs, and great sub bass, but I'm missing that mid bass sound. The bass is tight, it's just not got enough presence. I want to hear the bass effortlessly slam to the floor, and it just feels way back in the mix.

Any advice on where to start?

I could roll some tubes, maybe the electro harmonix EL34's?

I love the tone of the amp, but do I need solid state to power the kind of bass I want?

Is there a better speaker pairing with the ASL?

Is this going to be my quest for the rest of eternity?

If the subwoofer is turned up too much, you'll never hear the mid-bass. The mis-bass doesn't slam, it's what provides warmth and definition to the bass notes and it can be masked by excessive deep bass and room mode problems.

Have you biased your amp lately? What is the crossover frequency for the subwoofer? Have you tried turning the sub off and finding the best sound for the main speakers, moving them if the mid-bass isn't correct? Only then should the sub be turned on and set up, IMO. Try bypassing the DAC, too.

If you use EH tubes, don't expect strong highs- they tend toward warmer sound.

 

[GranteedEV]

Without measurements, there's no telling where exactly you're missing output.

 

[ski2xblack]

Highfigh's post has excellent suggestions. I stongly suspect you have a placement and/or sub blending issue. The slam zone is often right where you are trying to blend your mains and sub, and very tricky to get right, particularly using just one sub. Follow HF's suggestion, get your mains optimized sans sub, then do the crawling for bass etc for your sub afterwards. (I assume you will be doing this the old fashioned way, given your system.)

Do you have a bigger ss amp to temporarily throw in there to see if it's a power issue?

I've found that rolling the driver tubes can make as much or more difference as the output tubes when it comes to rolling. I'm not sure what your ASL will accomodate there, but keep that in mind as another option to tune your amp to your taste.

Keep us posted.

 

[Sjess]

Thanks for the advice guys, I agree that I need to work with what I've got before I throw more money at a solution.

As soon as I can I'll take the sub out and start playing with the position of the Paradigms and go from there.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[speakerman39]

Thanks for the advice guys, I agree that I need to work with what I've got before I throw more money at a solution.

As soon as I can I'll take the sub out and start playing with the position of the Paradigms and go from there.

I'll let you know how it goes.

At what point is the sub cross-overed at? If it is too low, you will surely be missing some midbass slam albeit punchiness and/or tightness. Most Hsu subs do a very good job of rendering excellent midbass punch. Just sayin.



Cheers,

Phil

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I don't know about y'all, but I wont be buying $1.5k tube amp from Chinese company and their "top of the line" web site:
http://www.tubehifi.com/main_page.htm
Just sain .... (my brain hurts just looking at it)

 

[Sjess]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I biased the amp. I took the Paradigms off their stands and placed them closer together on the floor on auralex pads and it made a big big difference.