Oi Audiophiles! SubwoofA advice please.

[Trogladyte]

Trog towers currently boasts three music listening options.

The kitchen as a DAB radio with half decent audio quality, and we can stream to it on Bluetooth from Tidal, Spotify or Google play. Its fine for a kitchen.

The front room (or what some might call the dining room) has my venerable old vinyl collection, with a Technics SL3300 into a Cambridge Audio amp driving four speakers - a pair of 70s Wharfedale Linton IIs and a pair of 80s Tannoy Mercury 6s. It produces a compelling room filling sound, with depth and warmth. I can stream from my phone via cable, but relies on the phone's DAC.

In what i like to refer to as the penthouse (loft conversion) is my premium listening suite. Here an Audiolab 6000n streaming player delivers high res audio from Tidal to an Audiolab 6000A integrated amp, driving a pair of Bowers and Wilkins 603 floor standers. The sound is exceptionally precise and punchy, and it really delivers the goods. But as ever, I want more. I listen to a lot of bass-driven dub, and I could do with filling out the bass, especially as the room is quite large - maybe 6 by 3 meters (that's an estimate, and probably conservative).

The Audiolab amp has pre-amp outputs, and I think these should be perfect for driving an active sub. Does that sound right? And assuming it does, has anyone got any recommendations for a good subwoofer for that system? I'm looking for deep sub-bass that I can feel in my bowels to complement the power and precision of the B&Ws.

And while I have your attention, the dining room setup is great, but it is limited for streaming. It is annoying that it relies on the DAC in the phone (vinyl sounds great, but you really notice how much better streamed music is in the penthouse). And its also irritating that the phone has to be connected by wire, so I cant play with it while it is being used to stream music. How could I best upgrade the streaming capabilities without spending a fortune. is it a standalone DAC, or should I consider dumping the lovely old Cambridge Audio amp and replacing it with something more modern? Whatever it is it will need to be able to drive my four speaker setup, as I am very happy with that.

[Trogladyte]

Nobody? No audio buffs out there?

[Nidge]

For the second part I can recommend my set up: Yamaha RX-A1070 amp which supports Spotify Connect, Tidal and other streaming services as well as having a phono stage. I tried it back to back with the corresponding Denon offering and found the Yamaha better (to my ears) for music and on a par for movies. It supports 7.2 connectivity and matched to my Q Acoustics and Yamaha sub offers a crisp, clear and responsive mid with the bass nicely augmented by the sub. On offer at Sevenoaks for £900 at the mo too: https://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co. ... gKzbfD_BwE

[Trogladyte]

Interesting. What's the sub on that system then? Its only the sub I'm interested in as I am very happy with my Audiolab and B&W setup.

[Nidge]

I was thinking as a replacement for your dining room streaming set up it would be perfect (in built streaming services, multi speaker capability etc). The sub is a Yamaha YSTFSW 50, it’s not the biggest or best but sits my set up well https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/subw ... 0-blk.html

[Editor]

sorry I'm late Trog

Behind a sofa I've an in-phase BFO speaker I got out of the back of a scrapped ford fiesta. I use an old standard hi-fi amp to drive it, and it's a shame I don't have another one to hang on the other channel!

That delivers & it was buttons.

Otherwise there's some clever builds esp one which has the sub all open & hanging like a huge gong

Dining Room: Google do, or did, an audio chromecast gizmo. Cheapest way I know of wirelessly getting your phone/ tablet into an old traditional amp * it's wifi rather than bluetooth too, which is superior. This does rely on the DAC internal to the chromecast device though, but it's none too shabby actually. It also has optical out, so then you're using straight digital, bypassing internal chromecast DAC & using internal DAC to amp. I use an old AV receiver here for that

If I'm a really demanding mood I have an old ipod with the Wolfson DAC (other use the Cirrus & arguments rage, but I have both & trust me the Wolfson is indeed 'more musical), on a dock which is jacked into an line in. Yes I have to get off my arse there. No I don't care-best cheapo I know & you can get these Wolfsons for buttons on ebay. All you gotta do is replace/ upgrade the battery & replace the mini HDD with a SD card. IIRC mine is a 'mini ipod' model, but you need to check specifically to exact model number.

HTH