I have just ordered a pair of 1007's, and I am curious, even though I have really good electronics. Which integrated amp would you use with those speakers in a 2 channel setup? Ideally, but not costing more than 2K$?
Not many - Arcam FMJ A32, AVi (probably over your $2k budget). Those 1007s are actually quite easy to drive, but they're very revealing so you need a decent amp and decent source to provide them with a decent signal and make the best of them.
The AVi is a good partner and really and truly I'd start from there as a minimum normally.
Hmm, well, the AVi costs above 3K$ here so it it a bit pricey for me. I've gotten the speakers and I'm powering them with an Atoll Electronique IN100 which I feel suits them quite well. There may be more to gain by an even better amp, but in my opinion the 1007 Be's are in fact one of the best sounding speakers I've heard regardless of budget, if you disregard bass below 50 hz. The treble, detail and imaging is insane and almost overwhelming when you sit down to listen. They sound very neutral, and yet they make you sit and grin like a fool while tapping your feet. Now I'm only looking for a sub to support them from 20-45 hz to get a better full range experience on some pieces of music.
I appreciate where you're coming from and I concur on the positive attributes of the 1007s. They are also more forgiving than many other speakers which are also very revealing. For example, the Focal Micro Utopia is the entry level speaker in the next range up. It's ruthlessly revealing of the electronics, so much so that you have to drive it with such clean signal that the cost becomes prohibitive considering the price of the speaker!
The 1007s are also a lot easier to drive than many speakers in their price range. Therefore you can get away with relatively low power which has huge benefits on your wallet.
Personally I don't find the 1007s lacking in the bass department. A lot of people aren't used to speakers which reproduce bass correctly. Most people are used to a biggish mid-bass sound. This is because most of the speakers they've used or heard have been ported or have had more flexible cabinets which give rise to cabinet 'honk' or colouration. Although the 1007s are ported they do hide it very well indeed. The cabinetry is excellent so there's no cabinet colouration to speak of, which is one of the reasons for the incredibly clean mid and treble.
The only time one could consider them bass-light is in really large rooms where the physics really do go beyond that of a 6.5" drive unit! The problem is that these speakers are very fast indeed and most subs either draw attention to themselves because they're too slow to keep up, or because they have a character (again usually caused by cabinetry) which gives them away and smears the music in the time domain usually 'slowing' down the music. I think the best match would be a smaller Velodyne such as the SPL1000R or DD10 (yummie). The Velodynes keep their cabinets under very good control and they're fast thanks to their humungous built-in amplifiers (1000w class D in the case of the SPL and 1250w in the case of the DD series). Again, don't go for a really big sub since the cabinet increases in size and becomes more difficult to control. Better two smaller subs than one big one in fact!
I agree with what you're saying here. And I don't find them lacking in bass, but on some CDs where instruments such as church-organs, deep tones from a chello or digitally mastered bass tracks appear I feel the roll off a bit to early.
Bass-wise they deliver enough bass, and they will probably be even better when broken in.
The Velodyne models you're suggesting here are quite pricey here, and buying a DD10 would set me back almost as much as the speakers did.
My alternatives today is either a sub from REL, maybe the new Focal 800V sub or a sub sold from sweeden called an XTZ W12 which has received very good reviews.
And I do realize that it isn't an easy task for a sub to work together with a pair of 1007s.
2. The Velodyne's more expensive than it should be.
As it is the DD10 is the better sub, but the SPL series is also very good value indeed, just not as flexible as the DD10 which is probably the most flexible sub on the planet.
REL make very good subs indeed. I haven't heard the latest R-series. The previous range, though fast and deep had a bit of cabinet colouration which I couldn't get away from. Hopefully the new range has better cabinet control. That said, REL is a good option for music.
I haven't heard any Focal sub so I can't comment there at all I'm afraid.
I suggest that you need to get your dealer to lend you or do "sale or return" basis for you to test out the sub in your environment if at all possible.