Terzo 333

I've got a Sony home cinema surround sound kit. (DAV - S550) About 6 months ago, and for £500 this was the best money could buy, but I have to say I am very dissapointed with the bass it gives out.

What would be the best way to get more bass ? An amplifier ? As all my gear is Sony I want to stick with this brand, but the cheapest Sony amp I have found is £500

Someone mentioned a sub with a built in amp that has its own power source

Any other suggestions anyone ?

Thanks

Matt

Buckrogers

I looked at buying the DAVS 550, but by the time I was ready to purchase, the DAVS 800 was out, so I had that instead. The spec's between the two are not that different and my bass "bin" (part of the system) kicks out plenty.

I believe you can adjust the bass volume on the system, have you tried that?

Does this low level bass volume happen on all inputs? ie DVD, CD, audio 1 line in etc?

Mr.Cookie

Your probably pretty screwed for upgrade options as the only way your going to get more bass is by either adding another sub and for this you'll need a sub out which i doubt this has or split a speaker out, which could be messy and play havoc with general sound.
The other option is going to be to add better front speakers with a more fuller range 20Hz - 20khz as opposed to and i'm guessing here 200hz (maybe higher) - 20khz of the standard little speakers you've got. Which you may find you can't do either as they may not be given the full spread, or and you may be lucky here, they are and they themselfs have some form of frequency capping.
Best option would be to try a set of speaker on them making a note of what ohms the little ones are and matching


Si

[Edited by Mr.Cookie - 11/21/2003 4:12:34 AM]

Terzo 333

Thanks for the replies

The bass is set fully up on the sound settings, but (I might be wrong) it seems as though theres more bass on "video out" (TV)

Buckrogers

It sounds very strange, if the bass is at full!

As I said before, the specs are that different between yours and mine. I know the bass bin is a little bit bigger on mine, but I'm sure that yours should still kick out reasonable amounts.

Maybe the bass bin is faulty or perhaps you have a bad connection wire for it. As its only 6 months old, I would get the shop were you bought it from to look at it. Worth phoning them first, see if they can offer any advice over the phone. If they cant, suggest to them that you would like to just bring the bass bin, the main player and lead back to the shop for them to test. (As opposed to taking the whole lot back. Dont know about you, but it took me a good 3 hours to set my system up! Mind you, I was a bit p!ssed!)

Buck

Buckrogers

PS you have got your hearing aid turn up to full?! Just kidding..

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Lots of people complain of this with the DAV-S550. I've just got the same system and find the bass plentiful in my smallish living room using the optical-in. Rocks the room with Dolby Digital Not so beefy using ProLogic II though. Try unplugging it althogether and you'll see that its actually working a little more than you may think

Plenty of active subs around to suit your budget if you want to beef it up a bit though.

civictyper

Soz if this is too obvious but have you checked that your speakers are in phase (i.e. all + and - connected correctly). This usually has the effect of robbing bass from speakers.

If all else fails then it's time to get some new speakers/sub. Probably the best to go for are REL. They're active so can pump out a fair bit of bass and can be matched with your satellites quite easily. May be worthwhile upgrading your fronts too.

I'm currently running some ProAC Studio 125's which are pretty rich in the bass department (no need for a sub IMO) but most floorstanders will do a similar job.

messiah

if you're gonna spend £500 on a sub - make it a REL!

Had a demo of a speaker setup by some german manufacturers called Elac (sp) for £350 notes for 6 speakers I thought that maybe it was verging on the budget side of things (I had gone in the shop to look at some Sony Pascal Speakers). The Elac sub was a real eyeopener - it was like a bloody earthquake generator!

Jye

You could move it nearer to a wall, or stick it in a corner, corners give more bass.

Dr Hu

I bought a REL quake - and its barely on! - It gives way too much bass and drowns everything else out, it is on a hard laminate floor in a corner with emulsioned walls tho....

If anything I need to tone it down a little its a bit boomy.

I had to put 4 big **** off lead weights on top of it, as it used to rattle it's way across the hard floor

Denon1803/Mission M73 floorstanders/REL Quake

apples24

iTrader: (1)

laminate flooring

mine rocks

hades

Fully support Jye's advice. With the fairly small yamaha surround system I use just for the PC, the bass needs truning right down, or else there a serioius amount of it (if a little losse compared to any proper hi fi) - because the small sub is in a desk sized alcove and hence near two corners. Move the sub into the middle of the room, all the bass disappears unless you turn it right up. Maybe not as good as a nice big REL sub, but moving your speakers is an awful lot cheaper!