Anybody Felt Lower-End ARC preamps Bass-Shy?

Ryder, with so many variables in the system, amp, preamp, cd player, cables, subwoofer, settings, placement, recordings, it is tough to have any idea if you have a lack of bass and if so, where it might be coming from.

One thing I have discovered with some of my customers is the importance of finding out if they experience a lack of bass all the time or just with some recordings.

What music/recordings do you listen to? Is the bass great with some and not with others, or does it feel light weight all of the time? That might help to shed light on what you are experiencing.

10-02-07: Reb1208
I owned an LS-25 mk1 (6922tubes) Infinicaps for many years. While the bass went fairly low, rhythmic drive/impact was sorely lacking.

In relation to what other tube preamp?

I have had the LS-16 in my system and the bass response was rather poor in the upper registers.

Thanks for all responses.

Ryder, define enough bass please. Without hearing your system how can anyone know how well bass is reproduced by it?

That is the reason why I have asked if anyone has got better bass after upgrading to a better preamp. Most questions posed in the forums are often subjective and opinions are accepted based on rationale.

Anyway I appreciate your advice on running the whole system balanced. Unfortunately I can't since I have my subwoofer inserted in between the LS-16 and Plinius amp. My speakers are high-passed. If I run full-balanced, I can't hook up the sub in high-pass configuration and my speakers are limited to 35Hz only. Furthermore, I reckon the bass roll-off much higher with their current placement. Without the sub, the bass is much weaker compared to what I'm getting now. I have balanced cable from my Krell CD to the LS-16 though.

Since you mentioned the bass on the LS-25 may not be too different from the LS-16, I guess I can be rest assured it's putting out decent bass. Looks like I have to keep experimenting.

Music used was mainly Pat Metheny's earlier works "Letter From Home"(which happens to be my most listened record now), and "Still Life Talking".

May be other variables involved. I was hoping the bass can be slightly more visceral. Will keep experimenting.

Thanks for all inputs and advice.

I would suggest for more pure sound to use the single ended outs from your preamp for the sub and use the balanced outs to your amp. Let the mains run full range. This will take the extra electronis from the crossover out of the mains which should give a much richer sound.