Hey all,

I've had my axiom M22ti's (black on ss16 stands, sexy!), and I was powering them with a marantz 2220b. I've heard of weak bass on the m22ti, but I found the setup to be quite pleasing, at least down to 60hz. The marantz eq controls were all neutral, and the loudness contour was enabled.

Now, just recently, I was able to pick up an arcam delta 290 amp. It is *awesome*! The soundstage and imaging are about a thousand times better than the marantz, especially with such precise axioms.

But... the bass is almost completely gone. I'm a purity nut, so I always have to have the tone defeat/direct switch turned on on the arcam - but it seems like all the warm lowend that the marantz pushed is now gone.

I do plan on adding a subwoofer soon, but.. is the arcam just bad at lowend/bass output? Or was the marantz overwhelmingly bassy and boomy?

Confused thanks for reading.

Kertong, before getting too far into the testing methodlogy of new equipment to rule out the human brain as the primary factor, have you disabled the loudness contour on the Marantz before using the Arcam?
I am assuming here you are using the Marantz as a preamp.

thanks for the reply, chesseroo,

Nah, the marantz is decommissioned now - i've listened to it with both the loudness on/off, and with it off, the sound is noticeably flatter. But the bass/oomph is still there.

Now the arcam's completely replaced my marantz - i plan on using the arcam as a preamp with a seperate poweramp later on, but for now, the arcam is standalone.

And yeah, the bass is just.. gone. the mid/high is ultra clear and amazingly clean, its just that there's no lows to supplement that.

well, i hope a subwoofer fixes it. i was going to go with an svs or hsu, but the axiom ep125 appeals to me for some reason. how are those?

I heartily recommend the Hsu STF-2 plenty of punch for a small room and plays to true subterannean depths. If you tweak it just right the blend between the sub and M22's is awesome. I can't imagine the towers souding THAT much better. Although, I've yet to hear Axiom's towers.

The towers are pretty nice

Did you put the Marantz back in and confirm that the bass came back ? Just wondering if there was any chance you had moved the speakers at the same time you put the new amp in.

That's a good idea.

thanks all.

yeah, i've tried swapping my marantz in, and the bass comes back, but I notice that the mid/treble is nowhere near what the arcam pushed out.

I think I'm just used to a big bassy sound from the marantz, the arcam is so much more neutral and sterile that I feel that something is missing. The sound is crisp, imaging is lightyears ahead of the marantz.. just doesn't have the kick and oomph. Sounds like the amp is too technical - I just hope that its taking full advantage of the m22tis. I guess a sub will solve the problem.

Yup, those older electronics (hold onto your hats, folks) do have a different sound. Personally, I like the more precise sound these days, but I have noticed the thing you speak of. To be fair, it was many years ago with substandard speakers, but... A sub should solve all of your problems. From what I've personally heard, an SVS PB1 matches the 22s quite nicely.

kertong,
It is possible that the Marantz unit was made with a bit of a bass boost to it. Such a thought should not be surprising either. If ppl tend to prefer the 'feel' sound of music, then in having receiver in a store that adds to this, even subtly, could help sell their unit.
I believe this idea to be akin to the motherboard makers and their clock speeds. Sure you can setup an Athlon cpu at a 133 mhz bus (just throwing out numbers here) on any motherboard, but when comparing two brands head to head, BrandX clocks in at 133.9 mhz while BrandY comes in exactly at 133.0mhz. Once you toss in a multiplier, let's say 12x, who's motherboard will post higher benchmarks and hence get the better reviews and sell more boards yet still be marketed as a simple 133 mhz bus board?
It is just a thought.