Those speakers have a 6.5 inch bass/midrange driver which means the speaker is not designed to do bass. Freq response is 33hz to 22khz. Instead of a new integrated you need a bigger subwoofer which will then give you the backbone to support the music. Or play with the settings on your sub by raising both volume and crossover point. But my great suspicion is that the T5 is not got enough to cover the large room you now have
Integrated amps for lean speakers
Hello all. Upgrading my integrated now. We are in a bigger room at 22 x 16 x 10 foot ceilings. Just picked up a pair of Neat Iota Xplorer speakers (6 ohm impedence). The demo sounded fuller and richer in a smaller room driven by Sonnet monoblocks. Current space certainly exposes the weaknesses of my 20+ yr old Rotel integrated. High freqs are forward, mid-bass punch is lagging except at much higher volumes. I have a REL T5 subwoofer to help.
My goal is to get most out of these somewhat lean speakers with a more forceful amp that will accentuate the mid-bass punch without overdriving the ribbon tweeters. Getting a more forward sound in the low level listening would be a bonus, although at 88 db sensitivity I’m not sure that will happen.
Budget is $2K-$3k with new and used options in the mix. For the right piece I suppose I’d stretch it closer to $4K. Rogue Cronus Magnum II, Margules ACRH-3, Aavik I-180 while very different are in the running. Parasound Halo 6 and Plinius Hautonga come to mind through research. Having a hard time auditioning equipment these days since the brick and mortar landscape sure has changed in the last 8 years around here.
Anyone listen to the Margules Integrated? I heard their tube amp at T.H.E. Show 2 weeks ago and it sounded glorious driving Raidho speakers but the ACRH-3 was not in loop at the time so I never heard it. It has a tube front end and ss amp section so perhaps will tame the highs a bit? Again the big goal is to regain the tight mid bass that the Paradigm mini monitors brought (they just cracked at higher listening levels in that room). Your thots? Thank you mucho.
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I don’t think you need a new integrated, you need better room/sub integration. Here are some possible causes:
However if you insist on wanting a new amp, Luxman is the brand I recommend here. |
Agree with @erik_squires Without a clear portrait of your room acoustics, I have no idea what to recommend gear-wise. The room is 50% of the resulting sound. |
As I said earlier, the T5 sub is not big enough. I have a room the same size which my floorstanders & a Rel Storm 3 with a little more power and 10 in. woofer would not output enough bass. The T5 has 125 watts with an 8 Inch woofer which is not enough power nor air movement for the room. . The best purchase I made was 2 Rel S5 clones w/ 12" and 550 watts. Sounds great now |
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