Need More Bass-need recs

[invstbiker]

Newbie here...Here's my setup Two Phase Linear 400 Amps powering JBL L100's and JBL 4412's bookshelf speakers. The amps are fed with a YS Audio symphonies plus tube preamp with volume and balance controls only. (no bass or treble). The speakers are about 8' off the floor on a shelf. My room is "live" and has a pretty strong echo. My choices, as I see it are 1. ad two equalizers to help boost bass or 2. add a subwoofer. How do I add a subwoofer and hook it up to a true two channel system. I'm not interested in going with an HT setup as I like the soundstage listening. Would appreciate any thoughts or comments here. THX in advance

 

[jaxvon]

Well, if you really wanted to invest the money, you could get a subwoofer for each side. Most subs have a high-level input where you would run the speaker outputs from your amps through the sub then to each speaker.

As for your speaker placement and room, I'd really get your speakers down more on a listening level. 8 Feet is awfully high and doesn't afford you very much for high frequency sounds due to your off-axis listening position.

Second, for the life aspect, you might look into some minimal room treatment. Getting rid of some of the reflection will help your sound immensely. Also, once you add a subwoofer, you're going to discover your room modes, frequencies where the bass is amplified due to the wavelength's perfect fit to the room. Room treatment can also help correct this. Passive treatment is definitely preferable to active treatment, IMHO, because it means less stuff in the signal chain.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

get an area rug

 

[golfhack]

Man!!! I don't think I could've answered that any better than jaxvon hit it right on the head!!! To reiterate what he said, don't use the equalizer for the reason of signal path influences (as jaxvon noted), also you will also lose headroom by boosting. Lower speakers down to ear level. And if "lively" use acoustical room treatments. Sorry for saying the same things you did jaxvon, but maybe this will make it more unanimous for the poster. Invstbiker, you might want to consider stereo subwoofers since you are leaning towards 2-channel. Soundhound (a very knowledgeable guy on this subject has posted several threads on this very topic). He can be found at Outlaws forum or Sound and Vision forum. Just type a search for the threads. As for room treatments, COF (Crazy Old Fart) has wrote extensively on how to do this at Sound and Vision forum. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[denverdoc]

Room treatment can also help correct this. Passive treatment is definitely preferable to active treatment, IMHO, because it means less stuff in the signal chain.

No offense intended but when it comes to bass frequencies this is absolute nonsense. There is no way acoustic treatment alone can come close to flattening out the +/- 10 to 15 dB of room ripple between 15 and 180 Hz in the typical setup. You need electronic parametric or digital EQ to do this properly. And compared to the effects of the ripple, insertion of even "cheap" pro audio gear is very transparent, and will return huge dividends.
John

 

[jaxvon]

I never said it would fix all the problems, or the bass issue completely. But I maintain that you should get your room as flat as you can with passive treatment before you go for active treatment. This means speaker placement as well. That said, if and when you're going to do active treatment, I think the only way to go is a Behringer DCX2496. WmAx can't praise the unit enough, and I trust his judgement on such things.

 

[denverdoc]

Thanks for the clarification as i mistook your earlier post for no peq at any costs--I would agree totally to fix passively when you can; in my room with the big Avalanche 18 IB set-up I have a deep single notch at the listening position otherwise flat. No sense in doing anything but a little boost here,
John

 

[invstbiker]

Gentleman, Thx for all the great feedback to my original post. Here in my AZ house we have these built in "niche" areas in the living room. So the only placement besides the floor for my JBL'S start at 8'. Ceiling is a whopping 18'. Floor is travertine tile, large area rug already in place, furniture etc. Without hanging tapestries all over the place, there are very few passive treatment ldeas left. JBL's 1975 manual states to add more lower end in a high placement, invert the speaker so the woofer is on top. Haven't tried this one yet, but will do so. I really like my YS audio preamp, VERY clean sounding, just need a little more bass boost. SO.....It seems I have two choices. 1. buy two subwoofers with high pass or 2. buy two EQ's.

THX again