Case of the dissapearing Bass

I did consider 2 Bryston 7BSST2's. The have the best warranty out there and have ample grunt. After having a visit from an expert he said my room is very bright, the speakers are very bright and the brystons are very bright and it could give me one of the most fatiguing systems out there.

I Havent written them off entirely. I Was thinking going something warmer like the Pass.

Its hard to decide as I cant audition anything where i live i have to fly 1200Km's before I can get to a capital city in australia.

Ill have to keep toying around with placement etc and see if it bears fruit.

The rotels drive the speakers reasonably well but it is very evident that they lose control of the bass at high volumes. You can see it in the driver excursion and definately hear it.

My budget is maybe like 10k for amps so im looking to go second hand. I would rather let someone else pay for the loss of value as soon as the amp comes out of the box.

I think Quad-mans theory of a bass suck might be on the money. I will have a go at these speaker placement programs. My room is an odd shape though so it might be a bit weird.

The Rotel is enough power to make the bass but you could get more texture with more power. Better amps tend to be more detailed in the mids/highs and power seems to affect bass tonality in my limited experience.

I demoed the 802d on both Rotel and classe' amps back to back (also on AR tube gear) and it was not as night and day as one may think.

You may even want to look at wyred 4 sound. I like them a lot and they control the bass very well. They are dirt cheap and good, not just good for the money but actually good. Bryston also seems bright to me (at the very least neutral) and the 802d on the bright side.

Your issue sounds like a bass null too me for what it is worth.

I didn't get a chance to read all of the above comments but I will tell you to check the phase. Use a nine volt battery and a small wire lead, touch the leads to the speaker wire at your amp (disconnect them from the amp first!). The positive lead of the battery goes to the suspected positive and the negative to the negative. If the sub moves in the leads are backwards, if it pushes out it is correct. That will give you a definitive answer as to the phase of the speakers, just make sure to test all of them. Then of course there is the possibility that you blew them up and they need replacing. Also the positioning of the speakers in the room can make a huge difference as well. So if they were to much up against a wall, and to little when pushed away. I would push them back towards the wall and raise them off the floor.

I hope I helped,
Andrew
Synesthesia Studios

Yeah Bryston in the past has been very bright almost too bright with past models. The Newer SST 2 seems to have to my ears anyhow , have remedied that with a much more even/full sound and from what I understand very favourable to many auido equipment reviewers. And BTW, your Rotels are quite good, so I agree with Zd542, nothing to be ashamed of and if these amps have been pleasing to you in the past, I would tweak around your room til the cows come home.