Now that I've had a few weeks to live with my speakers I'm trying to identify what I like and what I do not like in my system's sound, also how and why it is producing it's sound.
I've not had the time recently to undertake a truly determined effort at tackling room treatment and speaker positioning, however I've moved my speakers (Polk Lsi9) here and there, farther apart, closer together, forward and back, changed my listening position etc.
Here's something I've observed: the bass knob is always at the MAX setting on my amp (Yamaha A-700 Integrated, mid 80's vintage). Treble setting is in neutral position, and the Yamaha's Loudness setting is either set to off ( ... hum, or somewhere else on the spectrum) but irregardless of the latter's setting, the BASS ALWAYS seems to get turned up to MAX. Source is Meridian 508.20 CDP.
Disregarding personal tastes for the moment, what is causing my instinctive tendency to have the BASS turned all the way up? I wasn't certain if this should be posted under 'Amps' or 'Speakers' and I'm still unclear how to break down the synergy of the sound reproduction into it's component parts.
Is it that the speakers are limited in the BASS reproduction?
Is the amp incapable of providing the deeper BASS signal?
Any ideas on how I should approach analyzing this?
Yes, that's a given. But perhaps not at the expense of the other end of the frequency range, which I also like. I wonder if the system is leaning towards a strength in a different frequency range, and my bass adjustment if an attempt to balance it out?
What are the options for pulling better bass out of the system ... adding a sub, an amp upgrade, a speaker upgrade?
If you want more bass you should get a sub, the LSi9's arn't going to give you low bass, they arn't even full range speakers. I don't know what you would expect out of a pair of larger bookshelf speakers. heck they only have 5 and 1/4 inch woofers. It's not that they don't do good bass, they should but it's nothing compaired to a sub. Even at polk audio.com the -3db limit is 50hz.
If you want better bass nothing will even come close to adding a good sub. Once you do you can turn your bass down to normal. And just comtrol the sub if you want more bass.
The bass control on the Yamaha amp provides +12dB of boost to frequencies below 500hz. That is more bass than you will get by changing amps. You might possibly find a speaker with that much additional bass (a pair of original Klipsch Cornwalls come to mind) but you might loose the smoothness of the Polks in all other areas. (Not to mention half your living space should you opt for the Cornwalls.) A powered sub could probably provide the amount of additional bass you want but you would not be adding much in the way of deep bass content unless you spent a significant amount of money or, more likely, changed your listening habits. (I say that because what I understand you listen to in the way of music has little to no deep bass content the Polks should not be able to produce. [A -3dB at 50Hz spec should get you down to around 40Hz after room gain is added in to the equation. 42Hz is low E on an electric bass and there isn't much beneath that in most recordings.] You can't ask the system to reproduce a signal that isn't there in the first place.) And adjusting the level set on the sub +12dB is really no different than turning up the bass control on your amp with the exception of the bandwidth you affect with each control. However, a subwoofer will allow you to turn down the bass control and will probably make you feel better about the situation.
My guess would be your room is sucking most of the bass out of the system. You've described this as a fairly large open space. If I remember correctly there are mostly hard surfaces in the room. If that's the case, the room is the culprit more than anything else. (That and the GD bootlegs which seldom have enough bottom end.)
"However, a subwoofer will allow you to turn down the bass control and will probably make you feel better about the situation."
I got the rest of it, but that part I don't understand, please elaborate.
I do listen to a lot of rock, but not exclusively. I've been enjoying the increased dynamics* (I beleive that's the term) with my new system and that's opened up the sonic pleasures of music I visited less frequently in the past. I was stunned yesterday by the sweetness and emotive POWER of Maria Callas' voice in Alfredo Catalani/ La Wally/Ebben" ne andro lontana (Atto I) 1955. Gave me shivers and I was brought to actual tears!
So, in general, other amps will not yield me MORE bass (in my current room), but will they yield BETTER** bass? What am I missing out here or failing to understand ... why bother with another amp for the rest of my life here on earth (as long as I don't need to drive anything more demanding than my Polk LSi9s, or fill a bigger architectural space)? I'm speaking sonics of course leave visual aesthetics and status satisfaction out of the discussion).
*Part of what the Meridian CDP(w/Kimber Hero cables) has given me over my Philips DVD player is more power to the dynamics, the music (and voices) are more spatially present whereas on the DVD they are more compressed, flatter ... I made copies of some CDs and cued one up in both the Meridian and the Philips DVD, hit play, and used the Yamaha amp to switch sources.