Your settings seem to be ok but I'm left with a question.

Have you ever thought about adding a subwoofer? Besides adding the extemely low notes which gets all of the big press, subwoofers also help to fill out the lower mid-range of the frequency spectrum. After reading a bunch about Magnepan speakers (I'm seriously thinking about auditioning a pair when I get some funds), their major weakness seems to be in the low end. I bet if you were able to do a spectrum analysis of what's happening in your room versus what's actually on the CD's, you would find that you're missing a lot of information, not just the lowest of the lows.

Here's a semi-related example of what that missing bass information means to your brain. Have you ever talked into a regular, "dynamic", microphone? If you have, you may have noticed how your voice gets a bit fuller the closer you get to the microphone. This is technically called, "proximity effect", and, to your ears, it adds a boost in the low end of your voice. You could get rid of this "boost" pretty easily by either backing away from the mic or having the engineer "roll-off" some of the low range on the EQ, but some people like the effect and keep it. It adds a certain "fullness" that their voice would otherwise be lacking. Taking this back to your current situation, I believe that while your main voice is fine, it could use some of the "fullness" a subwoofer could add.

The advantage of having the analog bass-management of the 950 is to allow the easy integration of a subwoofer with sources that require the direct input. Also, after reading about your Sony player, it too offers bass management that you could use to integrate a sub with your system. Basically, your system is ready to add a sub without much hassle.

Integrating that sub with your room and your system properly is a topic for another post. It's probably the toughest job a home theater owner faces. Just check out the current thread in the "950 Saloon" for the current subwoofer debate.

To summarize, you're ready for a sub!! If you don't feel like looking through all of the current options before purchasing, see if you could borrow a friends. All you would need would be a subwoofer cable, basically a long interconnect, to get it to work with your system. It would give you a small taste of what you're missing so it might be worth the shot...

Edit: One other easier test...Check if your speakers are out of phase by reversing the speaker wires at one terminal on your amp. Could be that simple but the sub will still help!!

Good luck! Please post your findings...


[This message has been edited by Jason J (edited August 26, 2004).]