Yeah, the midrange-forward, bass-light Zu coupled with 300B can't be filling the room that well. A pair of subs could help and will add to your system even if you change things in future. New DAC per @ghdprentice may also flesh out the music.
Searching for a little more warmth
Hello all,
I know this might be a little open ended but I wanted to ask the crowd here for some thoughts and opinions on a matter I have been contemplating for some time now.
To begin. My current system is comprised of:
- Shindo Cortese 300b amp
- Aurieges pre
- Bluesound Node
- Zu soul vi speakers
- Thorens TT
I am looking for a little more warmth and richness from my system. The low end is there (to some degree), however it often feels as if the sound is having a difficult time filling the room. I'm not looking for a super boomy low end, just a little more presence from the speakers that is able to fill the room without turning to "11". The room is decent size, about 16' x 30' with high sloping ceiling. (Speakers are placed on the 16' wall about 11' apart and close to corners)
I've gone back and forth on what I believe might be the best path forward and after countless motions back and forth, I figured I'd put this out there to the crowd to see what the group thinks.
My gut tells me that swapping out my speakers might be the best option. Currently they are Zu soul vi but I have been considering Devore O/93 or 0/96 or audio note but am open to suggestions.
Option two might be to leave the speakers and add a small subwoofer.
Or lastly, consider the source, where most my music is played through bluesound Node, that adding or replacing that Node with a Gold Note DS-10 or (used) aurender might add some dynamics and texture.
Or... perhaps I need to swap out the system for something with a little more oomph..
Many variables and possible contributing factors, I know. I figured it'd be fun to see what the group picks out as the weakest link here or suggests as the best path toward a goal.
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- 33 posts total
@croissantfoxwine I know the Soul VI is a much more advanced speaker, but I owned both Tekton and Zu Soul Superfly speakers many years ago, powering both with low power SET amps. In my experience it is a real challenge to get a lot of warmth out of Zu speakers. The Soul in particular is a fairly small cabinet, and you have a medium-to-large sized room. In fact, if you were to keep your amp and preamp, which George has already noted are really nice, you will likely have to invest in potentially bi-amping your setup, where the Shindo are powering 120-140Hz and above for a speaker, and you get more powerful amps for the lower frequencies. 8wpc in a room that size is very limiting if you plan to power the bass and midbass. But adding subs won’t necessarily give you the warmth you seek, as the Zu Soul are just not a warm sounding speaker. Devore are definitely a little softer in their presentation, as are Audio Note speakers. Fyne Audio may also be another to consider. Horn-based speaker systems may be best, where the bass drivers are driven bi-amped with a cheaper Class D amp. The rest of the community may have better speaker recommendations as it’s been a few years since I’ve done anything with low power and high efficiency. |
- 33 posts total