The bass tuning
seems to remain the crux of our readers' problems. Whereas some people
want to build their own bass absorbers to keep the rich bass energy of
their pedestal loudspeakers under control, the others demand more bass
and warmth, according to the motto "no bass, no fun". The complaints
you hear are of "not enough energy in the room" or "a dead
soundstage, with too much sterility". The solution mostly involves
a complex rebuilding of the listening room or a replacing the whole hifi
system. But often all it takes are relatively minor changes to achieve
the required result from the system. Henning Wallefeld had, in common
with most of our readers, invested a great deal over the years and had
finally managed to get all his dream components together. His system included
a Micromega Duo BS CD player, very noble and delicate pre- and power amps
by Brinkmann, a Roksan Xerxes turntable and a mains power unit from Audio
Agile, all neatly positioned on made-to-measure slate slabs by Fischer
& Fischer.
At our first listening test we did however register a very fatigued and
dull soundstage. A timing problem particularly in the bass range made
the system sound listless and lacking in dynamics. Not a trace of room-filling
sound or bass contouring. Somehow there appeared to be a lack of power
even at high volumes. So what was responsible for it? The system? The
room? The wiring? We could reassure Mr. Wallefeld that neither the one
nor the other was causing the problem. We suspected that the problem lay,
as is often the case, in the mains cabling and in the system arrangement.
First of all we reduced the angling of the loudspeakers so that the soundstage
could open up a bit more. Then we removed the heavy slate slabs from under
the Micromega player and replaced these with brand-new finite elemente
"Ceraball" equipment feet (set of 4 for around 90 Euro).
The result was immediately simply amazing. The bass seemed to come back,
vocals became more sonorous and smoother, and the dynamics were a touch
more explosive. Normally slate slabs can be a real help in calming nervous
soundstages. But in this particular case they were even at the root of
the trouble and were drawing off the energy from the player. The Ceraball
was then used to help on all levels, the D/A converter, the analogue turntable
and even under the pre-amp. Mr. Wallefeld was, naturally enough, delighted
with the clearly audible improvement.
And we also took the opportunity to enjoy a couple of dynamic jazz CDs.
|
The new "Miracle Feet" by finite elemente are
called "Ceraballs". Here they were used to calm
the unit, but without taking away any musical energy. |
