Budget Strategies forTightening up Bass?


My system: Opera Consonance 120 Linear CDP, Extensively modded Jolida 302B, Silverline SR 17.5 monitors. AudioArt Speaker wire. Various IC's. Short of buying a sub, what is biggest bang-for-buck upgrade to tighten bass? Wire? PowerConditioning? ("currently" I have just an upgraded cryo-treated outlet) Better footers? (I have vibrapods and cones). I've got about $350 to spend on this... I know-- that's not much-- maybe my goal and my budget are mutually exclusive. Still, any suggestions would be appreciated!
stuartk
Plugging the ports will reduce the excursion-limited power handling above and around the tuning frequency, and increase it below (where it falls rapidly with a vented design). You're not pushing them with a big amp to begin with so I think you would be fine. However re-positioning speakers and/or listening position is the preferred approach; I had been under the impression that wasn't feasible in your situation, and am glad that you were able to try it.

Duke
DYI room treatment - bass traps in the corners and absorption at the 1st reflection points. You will be amazed by the results.
I have these speakers and not only do they put out tremendous bass, but also clean and fast bass. They are powered by the Rogue Audio Cronus tube amp and the combo sounds magical with the VPI Classic and Lyra Delos cart. I don't agree with opinions these speakers are not tube-friendly. I do agree, however, that impedance matching can help. I believe the nominal impedance of the SR 17.5s is 8 Ohms and switching from the 4 Ohms to the 8 Ohms taps resulted in fuller and heftier bass.

As a few wise responses suggested, the positioning of the SRs is critical. You had them way too close to the walls initially. I'd suggest at least 2 feet from the side wall and 3 feet from the front wall. I faced a big challenge in my set-up as my room is roughly 12'x11' and I knew taming the bass was going to be a problem. In addition to placing the speakers as far from the walls as I could while maintaining the imaging and the soundstage I preferred, I also treated the room with some dyi fiberglass panels. I bought a box of Owens Corning series 700 2'x4' fiberglass boards from a local insulation materials shop. Ten boards cost me $140. If you have a big supplier in your area, you can get them as cheap as $83. I then bought 2'x4' sheets of particle board from Home Depot and some fabric from a fabric store. It took me about 30 minutes with the help of my girlfriend and a staple gun to make several acoustic panels. I made a few with 2 fg boards per panel to make them more effective in absorbing bass. Considering the size of the room, unavoidable proximity of the listening position to the back wall and the amount of bass these monitors produce, the sound is superb. Speaker placement and room acoustics simply cannot be overstated.
Based on the impedance curve of the Prelude http://www.stereophile.com/content/silverline-audio-technology-prelude-loudspeaker-measurements, Silverline may not be the best match for a tube amp.

Oh, really? Here's a direct quote from the manual:

About Power Amplifier

The standard impedance of all Silverline Audio speakers is 8 ohms. Their exceptionally stable impedance loading favors single ended tube amplifiers, as well as low powered solid state amplifiers.

Care to retract your statement?
My AV system is set up in a large irregularly shaped open living room. I found that walking around room with music playing helped me find the bass nulls and peaks. Changing my listening distance from speakers significantly affects bass response. Moving my speakers just a few inches closer together made a big improvement in my room. A bass trap in the corner of the smallest part of the room was also an improvement. A new stiffer floor help also helped as did my 100lb sand filled speaker stands I built. Jim Smith's Get Better Sound has a lot useful information on this subject.