Ruark with weak bass

Firstly I'm new to this forum so hello everyone!

I have a pair of Ruark Prologue one speakers which I'm finding have a wonderfully sweet and revealing treble but are very light on bass. This wasn't such a problem with my old amp which had tone controls but my 'new' amp (old Linn Majik) has no tone controls. The Ruarks partnered with the Linn amp have an amazing affinity for vocals and acoustic instruments that I don't want to give up but the lack of deep bass is a real let down when listening to dance/hip hop etc.
Any suggestions?

 

Hi,
Try moving the speakers around in your room. You should be able to reinforce the bass if the speakers are nearer to a rear wall. If this doesn't work then the only other alternative is a sub-woofer.
Regards,
Jim

 

Yeah putting the speakers near the corners of the room will add the most bass. Try loads of different positions, even 30cm can make a difference with placement.

 

Sub with HiFi?

I never owned a sub.

How well does the sound integrate with that coming from your stereo speakers (were talking music in stereo here)?

I was considering adding a power amp in the hope of getting a bit more oomph.

 

Integration completely depends on placement and getting the correct settings. To be honest integrating a sub correctly needs in-depth knowledge of speaker design.

Don't add a power amp, just get some tone controls again!

 

Hi mjp

Subs - a good one will help maintain a flat response curve where the stereo speakers begin to fall.

High quality subs can and do integrate very well.

However I don't reccomend it for you.

A common misconception I have found is that subs 'add bass' .. and when people say that, they are normally thinking about the 'kick' of bass in the 80-120hz (ish.. cant be bothered to look it up) range.

It's for sure not in the 25-40hz range that a sub is designed to fill.

This is the type of thing rarely heard in music, just now and then - and of course in movies.

You could look at -

1) room placement of speaker
2) running a sweep through the speakers and plotting the response. You may have a bass suck out that can be treated with room treatments.
3) if you are going to dismiss room treatments (theres no good reason to ! imo).. then you can use the band-aid of digital room correction. In my view, this is something to be done when acoustic treatments have done all they can do, and not before. Sadly this is rarely done.
4) finally, of course try some speakers with more generous bass is an option.


... short answer of stuffing the speakers in the room corners is a good start lol

 

Might also take time for the speakers to settle in....many will say speakers don't need time to bed in....but in my experience they do...I have a pair of Living Voice Auditorium II's....and they took some 3 months to run in....now sounding fantastic and I've had to move them as the soundstage opens up...no need for such a toe in now.

 

Speakers do need run-in from new as the 'spider' (fabric that helps align the cone) has varnish on it and that needs to crack and loosen up. You can speed things along by gently massaging that fabric between your fingers if you have full access to the woofer. An impedance plot can clearly show the effect of this.

 

OP what speakers are you coming from?

Given you've been using tone controls previously it might just be that you've got used to the sound of a rather raised bass level (bass controls are very crude way to alter the response after all), if this is the case give it time to acclimatise to the new sound (which may be rather closer to the ideal response), you will probably then find if you went back, the old system would sound rather overblown.

When the Prologues were launched I felt they had pandered to the AV market slightly, these speakers had a much more fruity bass than their other models, but they do rely heavily on the ports output to do this, so need a solid wall behind them (distance to be determined by listening, but I'd start at 0.5m).

One last quick thought, have you double checked they're in phase? I know it's an obvious one, but worth asking!

 

I have found that dribbling aroma therapy oils on hot stones placed around the speakers has a similar effect.

 

Yes of course, relaxing music helps them to loosen up too.

 

Hi Guys,

Sorry I've not been on the forum for a few days but thanks for all the posts. In response to a few of the questions:
The speakers are approx 20cm from a wall and and 1.5 to 2m away from the corners of the room. I can't really move the speakers into the room corners. Floor is wood laminate.
My previous speakers were Eltax LR 6.5 which had a single but much larger main drive unit. The Ruarks have two small main drive units working in tandem. The Ruarks also have a significantly smaller cabinet than the Eltax.
Anyway I'm auditioning a pair of Proac Studio 150's on Friday and although they are a very similar design reviews seem to suggest they have plenty of authority in the low frequency ranges.
Any thoughts?

 

Hi MJP

Changing speakers is an expensive option that may or may not fix your problem. It seems like a route to lots of box swapping to me...

Presumably you heard the speakers and liked their bass before getting them home?

There is the clue to the solution in all likelihood - your room acoustic is your problem.

 

Ruarks do take an age to bed-in but I doubt that is the problem here as they are an older model (unless of course they have been hidden away since new). I have the Prologue IIs which are a bit 'softer' bass-wise than a lot of similarly sized floorstanders. They do cope well with a bit of 'wall reinforcement', without destroying soundstaging.

I think you are better off moving them around the room as several others have mentioned earlier. You will be surprised at the difference even minor changes make. That way you are only losing time not money on the venture.

 

Old thread, but old speakers. Testament to their brilliance - just bought a pair second hand.... stunning. Just stunning. And yes, bass isn't rich but it's oh so clean. Position is key, but source also. Running an Arcam Alpha 8 amp with CDS50 streamer.... anything sings. Classical, funk, rock, house... just outstanding. Have yet to drive them hard, expect to find loads more depth. Cracking.