@raysmtb1 I am using at least one tone control now, the ‘Environmental’ equalizer McIntosh MQ-107, and although I haven’t attempted to ‘curve’ it as yet, I am boosting the bass at ‘2’ out of 5 or 6 (I can’t recall exactly), but I’ve had to turn it down from ‘rattling the windows’ on some recordings. I would say you’re correct, although you can hear the bass without the EQ boost, you can hear it a lot better with it.
More to your point, I’m not sure what more power will do for me. The manufacturer describes the bass driver as “12 inch (300mm) high-power polymer-cone woofer,” and I have read comments about what a nice speaker it is (was), but that it required a lot of power. When I have it turned up to ‘loud’ I’m 21 dB consuming about 25 Watts. But the amp experts always talk about having enough reserve in either the choke or the capacitor bank to deliver high amounts of current in a short amount of time to properly deliver the ‘transients’ that make for dynamic playback.
But I think the also say that twice the power takes ten times the Watts, so . . . how much is enough, and how much is too much? That’s kind of my question.
Bi-Amping Options B&W 801 Series 2
New to me Bowers & Wilkins floor-standing full-range monitors with two sets of binding posts.
Currently have dual MC252 solid-state amps (with autoformers) connected as follows: (1) to both bass drivers and (1) to midrange and treble drivers.
Meanwhile, I have a Rogue Audio Stereo 100 sitting idle (although I could hook it up to my vintage Warfedales). I’m wondering if I would be better served by bridging both the MC252s and putting them both on bass duty (500 Watts to each driver), and put the Stereo 100 to use driving the midrange and tweeters. What do you think?
Especially interested to hear from someone with experience driving this particular speaker, which sounds wonderful, by the way. My system is fully described (but not well pictured) under my profile in Virtual Systems. And, if anyone has a lead on an original Bass Alignment filter, I’m all ears.
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@tomcarr I like the way you think. I’m probably goin to try it, regardless, but I thought I would ask the question here, to gain knowledge from experts and those more experienced than myself. I’ve got a good deal of money tied up in the system at this point, so there isn’t a lot of room for ‘playing around’ in ways that failures go in the trash can. Ben there, done that, got the T-shirt and a few damaged amps and speakers to prove it. :-)
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@lowrider57 Thanks for the compliment on my system, I’ve certainly been all-in since COVID struck which coincided with my retirement and my wife’s death May she rest in peace. |
@xenolith Let me assure you, I am enjoying my new (to me) speakers. I bought the speakers used from a dealer in northern New Jersey. I won’t give their name because previous posts on this forum that referenced them were removed silently. Suffice to say that they would have been perfectly capable of replacing the original, if what I have is not original. I have seen some crossovers on eBay that are much heftier than mine, but I think I will hold what I’ve got for now. Thanks for the response, and that goes to everyone who has responded thus far. I really appreciate it. |
@oldrooney I'm so sorry for your loss. I saw the pic of the crossover network, perhaps you can ask the dealer to explain the design. They are impressive speakers and it's great that they sound as good as they look. My earlier comments were about adding the Rogue to drive the highs/mids where an external crossover or gain control is needed. You would need to verify that the internal crossovers are truly discreet; top and bottom drivers are separate. |
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