N802's a tad light.

[georgev]

Hi folks,
I need some thoughts.
My 802's seem a wee light in the lower fequencies at low volumes. Once I crank up the vol a bit more, they blossom.
I am running them with a Levinson 332.
Q.
Is it a lack of adequate amplification? Will I get the improved lower end at low volumes with more powerful monoblocks e.g 436's, krell 350mcx's or

They are currently on carpets and on the castors. I am getting a stand made for them and then I will be putting them on spikes which will then stand on the granite stands.

Will that help?
Thanks,
George.

[Aussie Geoff]

Georgev,

Two thoughts:

The ear is less sensitive to bass and treble at low volumes (hence the old "loudness" controls on some older stereos). You need to get up at about 70-80 db for the ear to hear bass as the same level as midrange... So it depends how quiet you are talking about?

Also consider position - sometimes moving speakers like the 802s just 6 inches further away / closer to the walls or corners can make a big difference to bass - volumes at your listening position To check for this try walking around the room and seeing if there is anywhere where they bass sounds louder and more balanced...

Geoff

[Jeff]

I keep my N802's away from the walls due to to much boom. I believe your Levinson has 200 wpc. That should be fine. I'm running a Proceed (kin of the Levinson) at 150 wpc.

The other way I obtained a thicker bass ( not boomy ) is bicable the 802's. I had on loan an old pair of Audioquest Crystal just for the low end. It wasn't a good cable for the mid/high side. That seemed to help with low end presence. ON a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say it's a 3+ as far as
the improvement in low end. The Crystal is a garden hose type cable, heavy guage. I believe the lower resistance help a little.

I'm not saying buy AQ but just to try a low gauge cable in a dual cable per speaker configuration. That might be what your looking for.

Jeff

[georgev]

I am using the AQ pikes peak biwire.
I suppose from you bothare saying, I really should not look at changing my amp. but try the room acoustics as well as positioning and placement on sth. more solid.
George.