Focal: Alto Utopia Speakers Driving Problem, [TOS #6: moved from General Audio] Options

[nickodavidoff]

Hi,

I have Focal: Alto Utopia speakers. I drive them by using McIntosh MA6900 amp. But this amp does not go well. The problem is I can not hear enough bass. Mids stands front of the bass (too much mid-range). I want to buy a new amp I have some choices. If you guys give an advice or suggestion I would be very happy.

Which amp is more successful to drive Focal: Alto Utopia speakers.

My amp choices are: 1-Audionet amp-1 2-McIntosh MC2000 3-Mark Levinson No:383 4-Musical Fidelity AMS50

Thank You for your helps.

[DVDdoug]

Yeah... Any half-way decent amplifier is going to have ruler-flat frequency response (with the tone controls set to "flat").

As a general rule, all good amplifiers sound alike* (except for power differences). On the other hand, all speakers sound different.

That amp has tone/EQ controls, right? Turn up the bass! If that doesn't cut it, think about upgrading your speakers, not your amp.

Those speakers "look" like they should have reasonable bass. Did you listen before you bought them? (Of course, acoustics will affect sound and hopefully there was no EQ used in the showroom.) An 11 or 12-inch woofer in a well-designed speaker should put-out reasonable bass at reasonable listening levels. But, you are probably not going to "shake the dance floor" in a club.

Oh... This might be obvious, but make sure your speakers are wired in-phase (+ to +, or red to red, etc.). If you're not sure, reverse the connections on one speaker to see if the bass gets better or worse.



* Of course, some audiophiles "hear" magical differences that can't be explained scientifically or in engineering terms of noise, frequency response, or distortion... And, these differences strangely disappear in blind tests.