Hello,

I'm hoping you... The B&O expert can help me...

My components include a 4000 receiver, 1700 Turntable, and a pair of Beovox s45.2 speakers. I love the speakers and the receiver... But feel I need a tad more bass... Not a lot more, but certainly some. I'm honestly not sure if its the receiver or the speakers that's lacking. I'd really be interested in your thoughts on integrating a subwoofer into the mix. Recommendations?

Thanks!

Hello macgouft,

Your system seems like a good combo, but I think that the S45.2 speakers can be a little thin sounding (not bad sounding), as they are "small" bookshelf speakers. I would recommend you to step up to Beovox S60 or S75. The two speakers are almost identical, the S75 being in a deeper enclosure. I have used S60's and S75's (having a system with S75's and a Beomaster 4400), and would recommend to replace the capacitors in them as they will open up a lot more. Generally, less power is required to play at reasonable levels and it would sound like a blanket is removed from the speaker, I was more than surprised when I did my recap of the S75's

Søren Hammer:

and would recommend to replace the capacitors in them as they will open up a lot more. Generally, less power is required to play at reasonable levels and it would sound like a blanket is removed from the speaker, I was more than surprised when I did my recap of the S75's

I think you should be cautious suggesting a capacitor replacement will liven things up Soren - when I replaced the caps in my S-120's I didn't notice an immeadiate difference. When I finally got a decent ESR meter (Peak) a short while ago it confirmed the old ones were in perfect condition with a very low esr and capacitance that was spot on!

Oh, I forgot to mention that the state of capacitors can vary a lot, which comes down to storage environment and how often they have been put through their paces.

I hope you have experimented with placement.  Generally speaking, moving loudspeakers toward room boundaries (wall, floor) will reinforce bass.  I have one of my S45-2s right in a corner and the other almost backed to the wall.  I am very happy with the bass response (and I also have M70s with 10" woofers).

Without going into any physics or anything, the room itself matters as well.  Use your Google Fu.  Here's one site.

But back to your original post...if you go the route of adding a subwoofer:  if the subwoofer has a level control and a variable crossover, I don't think you'd have any trouble integrating it into an S45-2 system.  The S45-2 is a sealed enclosure so its bass response probably has a gentle roll off (unlike the steep rolloff of a bass-reflex/vented box).