Rogue Audio Sphynx and Martin Logan Odysseys


I was awe struck by this amp when I auditioned it 2 weeks ago and bought it while at was at the dealer's shop. I hooked it up at home to Martin Logan Odysseys and was completely satisfied except for a somewhat muddy sounding bass when listening to low passages of Michael Hedges' guitar music and other similar music. I was told by someone quite knowledgeable that the best way to tighten up the bass is to bi-amp using at least 200watt amplifiers. The preamp of this integrated unit is one of the best I've owned and I don't want to change the amp but it does not have pre out capability. It may be time to change speakers, and I would like to trade them anyway, unless there is another approach that will get me where i want to be without losing this wonerful amp. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
jimbreit

Sent from my iPad

I appreciate these responses mostly because of your sharing knowledge but partly because it confirms the fact that it wasn't just my limited experience keeping me from making what I thought was going to be a simple and straightforward fix. It might help if, as suggested, I provide some detail describing my equipment and listening area.

My listening area is my living room which restricts my latitude in several ways including the inability to use spikes on our wooden floors, placement of speakers relative to furniture, etc. I have done some experimenting with placement using the Jim Powers flashlight method of adjusting toe in of curved ESLs, and moving them further away from the front wall (this actually seemed to help a little). My equipment is not top shelf audiophile grade but I think it is pretty good relative to what I've heard described as more common consumer based products. This is what I have:

1. Martin Logan Odysseys which I've had for around 13 years, with the original panels. They still perform beautifully at least in the mid to high frequency range.

2. Rogue Audio Sphinx hybrid amplifier (100 wpc) which I've had for 2 weeks.

3. Shanling solid state CD player which I've been very happy with.

4. Sony multi-disk " jukebox" with a California Audio Labs DAC. Before installing the DAC listening from this source was not good at all, but convenient.

All of my equipment was purchased used except for the amplifier and I have used other amps with more power with these speakers including Yamaha and Pioneer surround receivers, and Arcam, and McCormack amps. I'm not a bass loving listener and my previous appreciation of bass was based on how low and loud it was, especially when I was setup for surround sound movie listening. I've now become more aware of bass in terms of how well it represents musical instruments. The example that I've heard expressed in regard to bass tightness or damping is the reproduction of "kick" drums.

When I auditioned the amp, the dealer was using a very high end tube based Shanling CD player and a $3300 pair of bookshelf sized speakers and the sound was the best I've ever heard on any combination of components. That's when I became aware of bass tightness and the fact that this amp was capable of controlling bass, at least with these smaller and lighter speakers. I don't expect to duplicate what I heard there and I'm almost sorry I heard it, but I do want to improve bass control because I'm otherwise very satisfied with my setup as it is. If I don't have to add addition power but, if I have to, I will.

I hope I haven't stepped over the line in terms of thread length but hope this detail will help with a solution.
Jimbreit, thanks for sharing the additional info for your system setup. One problem you have is not using the spikes on the speakers. Using the spikes will definitely tighten the bass. Read the section, “Solid Footing” in your speakers manual here,

http://www.martinlogan.com/pdf/manuals/manual_odyssey.pdf

Also, this would solve the problem with your wooden floors,

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AASONIC&variation=BLK
.
What are your dealer's thoughts on this? And have your contacted Rogue to get their impressions? As much as I like A'gon, I'd start with those first.

Rogue has always been particularly helpful when I have had questions or problems.
In all my years of audio interest I've never used spikes so I have a drawer full of them. I guess I just didn't understand, and am still a little fuzzy, how this seemingly simple application could accomplish much. Anyway, I appreciate your knowledge and experience so will continue to try understanding the rationale. I'm trying not to sound hard headed about spikes and I do like the idea of using "pucks" of some sort under the spikes but wonder what would be accomplished by moving the interface between the speaker and floor to between the puck and the floor. As a matter of fact, it creates 4 extra points of contact using this method. BTW, I do have the owners manual but didn't, obviously, heed ML's instructions. I'm going to try soft feet because I do believe that it will result in more solid contact than the flat floor to flat speaker box, because neither are truly flat.

BTW, both Rogue Audio and my dealer agree that this amp with a damping factor of 1000, should easily keep the bass tight, everything else being equal.
You have spikes and choose not to try them? As for an uneven floor, spikes can be adjusted (how far in you screw them) so the unevenness can be corrected for.

Spikes are the recommendation of your speaker manufacturer. Take em out of the drawer and try 'em. Doesn't cost you a thing.