Bass amp for a tri-amped system?

Papermill,

If you are interested, you have an opportunity for an experiment here, regardless of the amp you settle on:

Since you are separately amplifying deep bass, you might want to try a Velodyne SMS-1 (+/- $400 from Audioadvisor.com) or SVS/Audyssey DRC box (+/- $800 from SVS) for room correction. This will provide parametric EQ to correct for the room response. IME, this will likely provide vastly more improvement than optimizing the right amplifier (unless you choose a REALLY wrong amplifier).

I believe that both units are sold on a "money back" basis, so there's no meaningful risk to trying the approach. However, I have found that there are huge benefits to be had up above 50/60/70 hz, so you might want to cross an octave higher than 40hz when checking this out.

Good luck

Marty

Marty,
Thanks I'll look into it. Is it anything like the Copeland room correction that was floating around a few years ago? I tried that it and it was very detrimental to the overall sound - plus I needed to add another set of interconnects into the signal path which I think added to the negative results. It provided several equalization curves upon analyzing the room response also. And then one could also, via laptop customize the curve. It tended to ultimately distort the signal. What you are suggesting might be different. Thanks for your input!

I believe that these devices use a similar idea to the Copeland (which I've never heard), but the distinction (I assume) here is that either of these units will sit between your active x-over and the bass amp only. The rest of the system's bandwidth above the bass driver's x-over point is completely unaffected. Conceptually, there's still a trade off between "purity/transparency" in the range below your bottom x-over point due to the extra device in the signal path, but - in my experience - I've found that the benefits from smoother FR and precision level matching at the x-over point completely overwhelms any such costs.

However, this my own judgement and I am 100% sure that some others here would/have come to the opposite conclusion....the old YMMV.

I mention it because I'm a believer and because your set-up with active tri-amplification lends itself to the approach without involving the mid-band (or above).

Marty

Marty,
very interesting. I like the idea of limiting any correction to those low frequencies. I think that might be a viable option. Thanks

I'd certainly encourage you to give it a try. IMHO, it's a night and day kind of improvement that returns a crazy bang for the buck. Not everyone will agree, but the good news is that you can always ship it back for a refund if you decide that it doesn't float your boat.

I've never heard the SVS unit, but it's gotten some very good WOM.

Good luck

Marty