Thanks for the advice chaps. What follows will make it fairly clear that I'm not exactly an audiophile - I just feckin' love music - so any further advice would be greatly appreciated.
So anyway, I just got it all rigged up last night and while I didn't blow the 11Ls, I think
thfcwestlower may be right.
The A3.5 replaces an X-80, and the difference in clarity, detail and separation is stunning, which is exactly what I was going for. HOWEVER - given that this
amp has a reputation for being quite bassy - I was a little underwhelmed by the low frequency power at sensible volume (it does kick in when I crank it, but that is a bit too loud for the neighbours tastes).
The 11Ls are wired up using Chord Carnival cables, and placed on Atacama SE stands (maybe I need to raise the height so that the bass cones are more level with my ears). And I play a fair bit of my music as 320CBR (EAC ripped)
MP3 via a Squeezebox 3.
All of these could contribute to the lack of bottom end, but what do you think is the prime culprit, and what is the best way to improve this? Is it just a case of my amp being much better than my
speakers? And if I do need to upgrade them, has anyone got any suggestions as to which ones (within financial reason) might give me the sound I'm looking for. But obviously a set-up tweak would be preferable to blowing a load of cash!
And one last thing: I still have the X-80 and wondered if there's any point bi-apming the Quads with the A3.5, although I suspect that would defeat half the object of buying the new amp.
Cheers,
Michael