2. amps-preamps
  3. 1402413075

the best amps for bass, best for the rest?

hullo fellow beardies!

i'm building a system that requires two power amps, one for the main speakers and one for the subwoofers.

the speakers are the Nola Baby Grand Reference, combined with the two seven foot bass towers from the Nola Grand Reference, c/w their electronic crossovers.

so one power amp will drive the baby grands, while the other the sub towers (coming in below 40hz)

which would be your nominations for best amps for bass, and best amps for everything except bass?

the obvious choice is to use valve power amps for the babies, and solid state amps for the subs.
i lean towards monoblocks.

current leading contenders are a new vtl 7.5 pre with 450 monos for the babies and a used pair of krell750mcx monos for the bass.

another option is to mate a used boulder 2010 with the vtl 450's and krell 750's.

a rather more expensive option is the boulder 2010, a used boulder 2060 and then either a second 2060 or another amp to complement the boulders. the 2060 could either run babies or subs, do you guys have any opinions?
or the same model amp runs all frequencies (2 x 2060)
or alternatively something completely different...?

i will choose the power amps first then match with an appropriate pre-amp.

my room is 7m x 5.25m x 2.4m high, with a concrete floor. i prefer electronic dance music (drum and bass, hard / deep / banging house and trance), dubstep and reggae / dub.
i dj roots, rockers and dub, was part of an illegal sound system for a decade hosting regular parties and an annual festival, along with dub nights.
i reside in the uk (scotland) and have no neighbours to worry about
infinitelybaffled
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
thanks again for suggestions
perhaps i should also mention my current speakers...18 month old Focal Stella Utopia EM3. they are terrific speakers but i have failed to bond with them...i put it down to over 20 years listening to open baffle designs from Alon then Nola; my previous speakers were the Alon Phalanx.
the Focals are more musical, show extraordinary separation between instruments and vocals, and provide effortless room-filling bass as well as being very easy to listen to. they are a lot more forgiving than my phalanx was, seeming to pull off the trick of making all music sound good.
but to my ears now all closed baffle designs sound....wrong? closed in? i'm only hearing half the music;
i guess i've been trained for two decades to love a certain sound...

i think i may be at my final decision, amp-wise.
i am going to complete the deal i struck at the start of the year, trading up my yba passion 1000 monoblocks for a boulder 2060.
i will then look at vtl 450 monos or similar, so completing the power amp stage of things.
finally i will audition new pre-amps here in the complete system.

any further thoughts or suggestions?
btw i'm selling the focals, pm me if you are interested!
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
bugger. i shouldn't have said the focals are up for sale, i see now that's a breach of local etiquette
how do i edit my previous post?
plasmatech
77 posts
 
I prefer well matched (to your speaker)tube amps which have more believability to me , but some SS amps can also do it...Pass, Bryston, Coda, Ypsilon, and a few others. Listen to all you can....
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
i did consider a pair of big brystons (28bsst), but my reading informed me that they might not be as good in the lower frequencies as the other contenders, krell and boulder. my dealer concurred they were not at the same level.

i am very intrigued by VAC. do any of you
(rcprince, i'm looking at you!)
have a perspective on the notion that the signature pre-amp is 'rolled off at the frequency extremes'?
this was the deal breaker for me, as extended bass is the most important single characteristic i aim for in my system. otherwise the signature pre-amp would be a shoe-in

i have pretty much decided to buy one component at a time as no price incentives have been offered to do a larger deal. so i will continue paying for the boulder 2060, then choose monoblock valve power amps, vtl 450 or similar, and finally the pre-amp, again leaning towards valves in the shape of vac or vtl
infinitelybaffled OP
20 posts
 
George-lofi i hear what you are saying about OTL valve amps. my big concern there is that the baby grands aren't the most efficient and i enjoy full-bodied sounds at high spl's, so fear they will lack the power i need for bass-orientated music.
i have never heard any of pass labs' offerings....would the x350.8 compare well with the boulder 2060?
i am inclined to let the boulder handle the bass, and drive the baby grands with valves

thank you again for all your helpful inputs
More to discover