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Recommendations for improving visceral impact?

Hi!  I recently upgraded the majority of components in my system, and am happy with how it's going. I'm very happy with the detail, musicality, and separation of instruments. However, I think it's still lacking in visceral impact and also (particularly in two-channel listening) spatial imaging (both left/right and depth).

Our primary use is home theater - so improving impact is more important to me than improving imaging. 

Here's my setup - would love any recommendations for ways to improve... 

  • Left & Right: B&W 803S
  • Center: B&W Nautilus HTM1
  • Rears: B&W 301
  • Sub: Monoprice 10" Monolith
  • Preamp: Marantz AV8802A (with upgraded fuse)
  • Amp: Rotel RMB-1585
  • Amp/Preamp Interconnects: Bluejeans RCA

The room is approximately 18' deep by 20' wide. I've added GIK acoustic panels around the room, as much as possible based on room layout and aesthetics. 

Unfortunately the couch is against the wall, which I'm guessing isn't helping... but there's no other option for placement. I've also tinkered with speaker placement as much as possible; the B&W's like to be quite far apart, and I'm maxed out on width at this point.

I'm using the Audyssey room correction -- it's necessary since the front left speaker is a few inches from the left side wall and a corner, and is incredibly boomy without it.

I'd prefer not to change out any components at this point, so my thinking is that the interconnects between the Marantz and the Rotel, and perhaps from changing power cords and/or adding a power conditioner, could be the way to improve here.

Thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!  

awilder
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
I will agree with each of cbrents73 comments, but with different reasons. 

awilder - sorry man, I think we may have accidentally put you down the wrong road.  However, I will say that we did mention the Marantz was voiced warm.  I think the biggest restriction for "visceral impact" is the Marantz processor.  I know you previously had a Denon receiver (with the Rotel amp) and, while the Denon receiver had problems, I believe you had much more "emotional engagement" and "visceral impact" with the Denon receiver.  The Marantz is very nice and fixed a lot of the problems that the Denon had with the sound, but the warm voicing and roll-off of highs just removed a lot of the clarity and excitement and "visceral impact".  Just my opinion.   Going with an Anthem AVM 60 is probably one of the better choices in the price range and it will bring back a whole heck of a lot of resolution and clarity and excitement.
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I don't agree that your "choking with the Rotel amp".  You can definitely get a better amp, but at 2 or 3 times the cost, lol.
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As far as the subwoofer goes, yes, you can definitely get a better subwoofer, but things do get expensive.  For now, I think the subwofer should be a "second" priority and I would wait until I had the rest of the "visceral" issue figured out.  The Monoprice sub is likely a very loose and messy sounding sub, but it will give you the bass effect that's required during movies.  A much better subwoofer will be tighter and cleaner sounding, but still give an excellent low bass (such as a more expensive SVS sub, or even a pair of subs which is even better).
awilder OP
41 posts
 
Hey everyone, thanks for reviving this thread. :)  Been busy with work and haven't had much time to spend on this hobby recently... 

I did spend some time tweaking the Audyssey curve, based on @mzkmxcv's advice... though I found that I didn't need to bump things up as significantly has he suggested.  Doing this definitely helped improve the feeling of "punchiness" in the system, though it seems at a little loss of clarity... 

I can say that the sub definitely is not the issue here -- it's not the very low end that feels like it's lacking impact. I should not have said "visceral impact"... it's not about feeling my guts shake, rather, I want more emotional engagement and excitement.

I'll see if I can find an Anthem dealer locally who will let me demo an AVM60... I really need to start listening to stuff before I buy it!  ;)
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,541 posts
 
awilder, that is no where near enough subwoofer for that room. Who recommended that? You need at least two 12 "subs or four of the ones you have. I have a 16 X 30' room and use four 12" subs with 2000 watts each. They should have room control then put the mic at your listening position to calibrate. The subs should go right up against a wall evenly spaced with two of them in corners. That will take care of the primary reflection. If you could put bass traps in the rear corners that would help.
Cross over higher 100 - 130 Hz and don't be afraid to turn it up a little. Calibrate the volume listening to a good jazz group  Like Dave Holland's.
Listen to the acoustic bass. the volume should stay 0the same all the way down and you should feel it. Listen to the bass drum. You should feel the thud. Movies and electric music are not good to set volume as they can sound just about like anything.
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