803 D4 Nap300DR - upgrade to amp or add subs? The bass seems to lack grip

I am not suggesting changing to Roon…if you can avoid it…its another link in the chain…absolutely… A good switch and psu will help… speaker positioning and room treatment would make a big difference if that can be tollerated…
When I added GIK acoustic panels that was quite profound and very worth while. The NAP 300 has very good current capability…so the amp should drive those B&W’s well. The 500 may not have quite the same cureent but it is a bridged amp so the earthing of the speaker is very different…which effects the percieved drive…for the better!

Hey I am using an Ndx 2 with my cds ripped to a Core and mostly Tidal these days.

Speakers are now isolated and I added a PSU to the NDX2 and that’s changed everything.

The amp is a good for me. I doesn’t seem to be the issue here but will at some point play with it…

I have had a quick read through…and it seems you have quite a big room…those B&W’s need to be whipped into action…a NAP500 should do the trick you need a home demo…but I would love to hear the Musical Fidelity M8is driving those speakers…(an amp that would really take those speakers by the scruff of the neck - check out the HiFi Riff)

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So after all that chat. I first isolated my speakers, I then added a chord power filter, I then added the CD555PS to the NDX2. Wow it was an awesome trip……

And today I swapped out the NAC282 and HiCaps for a NAC 552.

OMFG by far the biggest shift of the whole journey. I just cried to Adele and I don’t even like Adele. I may not move for the next week from this spot…. What a shift.

I am shaking my head every time I play a track.

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congratulations on the move to 552.

Have to say, the 552 is an extremely good preamp.

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It’s blown me away!!!

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Before you do anything clean the speaker sockets and nana plugs very throughly - I did this on my 500 and gained nearly an octave of bass…and allot more control. Sorry just seen that you now have a 552 and 555ps…wow that must have made a huge difference… anyways still clean those speaker plugs and sockets.

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Delighted that everything has worked out so well for you!

I have had so much fun and am so happy.

Isn’t it ironic that all these complex/expensive fixes for your “problem” i.e. weak bass at low listening volume was solved in the “old day” by pushing the loudness button.

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LOL well yes except not at lower volumes. What was needed was a Roundness button!
I discovered a whole new level of HiFi in this process.

In the 70’s and 80’s nearly every amp had a “loudness” button whose purpose was to increase the bass at lower listening levels. It would shut off after the volume was increased. They were eliminated sometime during the era I was out of music and hifi. Deteriorated the sound quality was the excuse. I would buy one today if it were still offered.

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I’m not a great lover of having a sub in a music system, having an old fashioned view that the right speakers for the room negates the necessity :slightly_smiling_face:
However when Mrs Bruss retires early to bed, I find the study Nait 2 at a super low volume, coupled to a pair of Tannoy tall thin surround sound speakers and a Gale sub gives me that loudness button effect.

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You have nailed my contextual dilemma - when my wife or son go to bed before me or when homework or such other is being done.

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