Thinking of adding a subwoofer for more bass.

I have the ta-30 (predecessor to the a50) and the bass information is definitely there. I dont know too much about the vandersteen 1's but try playing some bass test tones from around 40Hz on up and see what the response is in your room. My 6" driver monitors go down to about 45-50Hz without a sub so your vandersteens should go at least that low.

There will be many other factors at play such as your room size, listening position, speaker position, etc. Walk around your room to see if bass energy is higher at other points. If it is, your listening position is probably located in a null.

Short answer: since a subwoofer is a speaker for outputting bass, sure adding a sub will definitely give you more bass.

Hell yeah it'll make a difference if you hook up a sub. I have a Klipsch SW10 II that has a 100 watt amp in it. You can hook it up to satts. mains or use the rca jacks to your preamp so as not to use any power from your amp. It is 10 years old and has about 1hr playing time on it. No BS I just don't need that much bass. I you want the sub I may sell it. Even though it makes a big difference, you notice it more when you switch it off after listening to it for a while IMHO.

Have you tried moving the speakers closer to the front wall?

I have played with speaker placement, but still not satisified with the amount of base. Also, I changed out the speakers cables from the cheap clear stuff to the shielded and insulated cables and that did very little. Was thinking about changing out the tubes, but I know the sub-woofer will probably give me a better chance of getting what I want.

The reason why I asked the question is because I was worried that the output frequencey of the amplifier was the problem because the Vandersteens go down to about 37hz. After listened to your suggestions, I feel more confident the sub will do the job.

Thanks

You may want to check out the Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer controller - for use with any sub you choose. It allows room analysis below 200hz and Parametric EQ on 6 bands between 20hz and 120hz. I recently bought one for use with my Verity Parsifal Encores (and I also bought subs for use with other speakers that I rotate into my system).

This unit requires real effort - PEQ turns out to be more trial and error than I thought - but the results are really dramatic. The cost is app $600 (AudioAdvisor.com) plus whichever subs you choose.

Good Luck

Marty