amp to drive more bass out of Ascenti's

[Russb]

What are some great amps to drive the woofers in the Ascenti speakers. I am currently using a Bel Canto EVO4. It is great for the mids and highs but a little lacking in the bass. I have to run both of my Descent's at the 70hz setting to pick up the slack in the low end.

Thank You
Russ

 

[Robin]

Tube Mono Block Amplifiers...

What are some great amps to drive the woofers in the Ascenti speakers. I am currently using a Bel Canto EVO4. It is great for the mids and highs but a little lacking in the bass. I have to run both of my Descent's at the 70hz setting to pick up the slack in the low end.

Thank You
Russ

Russ,

Firstly, as you know, your Bel Canto EV04 amplifier is awesome. I have read and seen some fantastic mono block tubed amplifiers, on our 'Member System' section, with what is reported to be wonderful warm bass, Audio Electronic Supply (AES)- SixPacs, Shanling SPT80, Pathos, have excellent bass reproduction, from what I've read. Personally, I have my Descent set-up like yours, with most of the bass handled thru the subwoofer. I chose not to drive the bass thru my Ascent i's, as the bass sounds so much better thru my Descent...

HTL

Cheers

-Robin

 

[Reverb2009]

What are some great amps to drive the woofers in the Ascenti speakers.

One word "KRELL".

 

[gstring]

One word "KRELL".

Lol...my thoughts exactly. That seems to be the prevailing thought about their gear. It's interesting to hear that the Bel Canto amps, while incredibly detailed are somewhat lacking in the bass. Kind of funny because these are 2 brands that I have been seriously considering to power my aeons.

 

[Russb]

Thanks Robin for your help I will also let my Descents do the work for the low end. I realy like the sound of the Ascenti panel with the Bel Canto. When I save up the money I will try to get a pair of Summits, but at this time money is to tight. I also wanted to thank the other people who replyed.

Russ

 

[jfm]

I have a Krell on demo now, driving Aeons. It's "only" 100 wpc but I've turned off my Depth sub for most music. I'm now thinking that Krells down low and tubes on top would be wonderful.

 

[audioraptured]

Bass Amp

RussB; Good evening. I have the Ascents and Theater for the center and custom rear speakers till I save up for Scripts and trade in my Velodyne to get the Descent. I am using an Acurus 200x3 for the center and rears till I get the rest of the system put together. I got an Aragon Stage One for the pre and for the fronts I am using an Aragon 8008MKll. It has all the bottom end and more. When I want to rock, its will bedrock, and when I want open and soundstage; its seems to be just magic. Its what I could afford for now.
Beware of my following inflated opinion:
Its almost impossible to hear what you want in a showroom by trying to compare A and B unless you make an appointment and bring in your own stuff and then its hours setting up and actually listening, assuming there are no interuptions. I suggest going on line and using a real world budget, get the specs and reviews and the what-have-you, then see what company fits the bill with the closest approximation to what you want and are willing to sacrifice your time and money for. Then find the best dealer and take your discs and try it out. Only let your ears guide you, (and not the choice someone else wants you to make, or some dealer getting more money from one company than another). The bottom line is: what makes you happy the most, that you can live with. Anything else is hype and disappointment. Anything more is bonus. It's taken me a while to understand we all hear different music differently, since we all have different tastes. I'd love for these magazine critics to print their hearing tests first, and then use the same discs to evaluate music that everyone else listens to, and then reach a measurable conclusion. Its like a traffic accident 10 people all witness together. Everyone has a different report. Pick what interests you the most.
Sorry to get off on a rant. Good luck and let us know, and best of luck.

 

[abhijit]

What are some great amps to drive the woofers in the Ascenti speakers. I am currently using a Bel Canto EVO4. It is great for the mids and highs but a little lacking in the bass. I have to run both of my Descent's at the 70hz setting to pick up the slack in the low end.

Thank You
Russ

It's worth giving a try with Plinius SA-102/SA Ref Power Amp. You may add two SA-102 to make it mono-block. I am using SA-102 Power Amp in stereo mode in a room measuring 25'(L) by 13'(W) by 11'. You must hear how this beast controls the woofer.

 

[babydoc]

What are some great amps to drive the woofers in the Ascenti speakers. I am currently using a Bel Canto EVO4. It is great for the mids and highs but a little lacking in the bass. I have to run both of my Descent's at the 70hz setting to pick up the slack in the low end.

Thank You
Russ

I have had until recently the same set up with Ascent i and Descent subs. I would make a couple of recommendations. First, you need an amp with plenty of "headroom" and because you are driving an ESL and dynamic woofer, it needs to be reasonably linear at frequency extremes. Few amps can do this without some compromise.
Two suggestions:
1. High current amps (old Innersound series, for example). Very good at panels, not bad with dynamic drivers.
2. Beast-like amps (high wattage Pass series). Very good with dynamic drivers and respectable with panels.
3. Your subwoofers, set at 40 Hz pass, placed near the corners, and out of phase 90 degrees, will mitigate the apparent low frequency lack in the Ascents and improve the midrange as well. The 70 Hz pass setting will bleed into the Ascent bass and you may pick up unwanted rumble on some recordings (especially lps).
4. Your speaker cables are also critical. If you bi-wire the Ascent i's with really good cables, the woofers will open up with almost any amp that meets the above descriptions. Unfortunately, as with many things in life, you will have to experiment with the cables and should have the opportunity to do A-B comparisons. I have had good results with XLO and Nordost (both relatively neutral with high transfer rates).
5. The Ascent placement also affects bass performance dramatically. You can use a room placement design program, an SPL meter with test tones, or, as I often do, your own ears! One thing that you might want to try is placing the ascents on dedicated platforms that lift them a little off the carpet and handle vibration.
Hope some of this helps. The only other solution is to migrate to a speaker with better lower bass response (Summits, Vantage, if you want to stay in ML product line).

 

[C.A.P]

One word "KRELL".

Exactly, well put . nothing puts it down like a Krell,and can tame the panels at the same time

 

[ml360]

One word "KRELL".

Two words "Classe Audio"

 

[Reverb2009]

Two words "Classe Audio"

He said more bass not less bass.

 

[ml360]

He said more bass not less bass.

GET A "GRIP"!

 

[Reverb2009]

GET A "GRIP"!

Get a better amp.

 

[ml360]

Hate to wake you up from disneyland(or in your case dizzyland),but anthem andor sunfire has nothing on Classe!

 

[Reverb2009]

Hate to wake you up from disneyland(or in your case dizzyland),but anthem andor sunfire has nothing on Classe!

I A/B 'ed my Sunfire to a Classe, I am not missing anything. It's the one amp I have heard I can't remember what it sounds like. Yawn.

At least Anthem amps have some balls like Krells.

 

[Sky Saw]

The Ascents (and i's) need a bit of room to open up. How do you know that it is your amp, not the space?

I run a Blue Circle BC28 with my Ascent-i's, and they have tons of bass. Prior to the BC28, I had a Celeste amp (a zero feedback design), which had very strong bass. I would encourage you to check out a zero feedback design amp, for that reason.

 

[C.A.P]

we have a typical dispute here, I ran Sunfire and it is a great amp for the $ , is it a KRELL ?,no , but it is a damn good amp that can stand with the best ,it is a very warm amp that has great attributes. as for the bass ONE WORD KRELL!!!!!! AGAIN NOTHING PUTS IT TO THE SPEAKERS LIKE A KRELL !!

 

[MarkNewbie]

This was written sober....hehehe

There are a lot of nods for Krell on here and I have to say that I have been a Krell fan for as long as I can remember. I always dreamed of Krell powering my system. With that being said, I don't want my comments taken out of perspective here so I want to make sure that is understood. Again, I think Krell is terrific stuff, no doubt. We all have different tastes so please keep this in mind also. Another thing to remember is that my comments are directed at two channel listening only and HT is a seperate animal in itself. I see music as a trilogy of sorts. IMHO, it is the midrange that is the heart and soul of music with Treble and Bass making up the other two portions. Taking this a step further, I wanted to focus on music's heart and soul while not letting the treble or bass overpower or underpower. I do believe that one of the most difficult things to find is components that provide the harmonical balance that the artists performing are trying to convey to us, the listening audience. This has been likened to finding "sonic narvana". It was that quest that lead me to Martin Logan in the first place. My search brought me to the realization that pure, clean, class A power was paramount and the foundation for a great listening system. What really amazed me was how many different solid state amps there were out there and how they varied in their effect on the three components of the musical trilogy. It seemed to me, that more of them focused on the higher end then did on the lower end. I am refering to treble vs bass here. I wanted something that would focus in the middle and not detract from either treble or bass. Some music is made with an emphasis on bass so a system needed to be able to handle that as well. Try giving Cusco a listen sometime if you want to see if you're system is good with bass. For those with Krell out there, I have no doubt that Cusco will give you're amp a good workout. IMHO, anything that focused on one "end" of the trilogy seemed to lack on the other when compared to a component that focused on the other and vice-a-versa. This was when I became convinced that my focus had to be at the center of the trilogy and to find a component that could also do treble and bass justice. Sorry for such a long winded story supporting my reccomendation but I always like to know what road one travels to get to their destination. My destination was "sonic narvana" and I am happy to report that it is a wonderful place indeed!!

 

[audioraptured]

amp to drive more bass

Mark: Good evening my friend. I believe you may be on to something here. Since we all hear things a bit differently and are looking for different responces in our system, why not get to the best part, (or to us the most important), done first and make that the prime listening target; and then add what parts we like or need to complement the weaker, (or section not as prominent), to create the best overall sound? I really think the ML sound, overall, with its attention to detail and clarity makes for a great listening experience. Adding things to help room problems go away, (treatments, adding or removing rugs, moving plants, etc), and the right placement for subs and even moving the furniture around also help. (I know no one else has a wife that complains that there are too many wires, or the living room looks like a stereo store). I have, (unfortunately), skylights and use a light curtain to help with this difficulty and it works fine.
But now I would pose a question that may cause some controversity: aren't there some amps that are just plain better sounding with certain types of music than others? Is Led Zepplin going to sound the same on Cary as opposed to Aragon, or is Vaughn Williams going to do better with Conrad Johnson than with Dreadnaught?
On a personal note as of my last post on this thread, I was a little p***ed at a dealer where I drove over 200 miles to hear a certain system, (Cassablanca), and agreed to a price; only to be emailed 3 days later and told the saleman had made a mistake in price and it would be an additional $1200.
I hope this is helpful to our member looking for better bass, and that he is sucessful in his quest, and gets a bargain in that search.