Moving to the 25wpc Enleum AMP-23 instantly flipped that balance. Despite PSI's active bass traps still labouring in the frontal corners, the low register now was slightly ripe. But everything else had improved. Tone was properly fleshy, music's gait more fluid. The low-power amp with the higher output Ω was clearly my way forward. Regular fuel it was. Excellent. What this gave up in ultimate woofer control aka damping it more than made up for across the lion's share of the bandwidth.
In your mind's eye now play cancel culture on everything between the white speakers other than the puny Korean amp on the floor. Do the same for the sidewall rack on all but the tiny black Singxer SU-6 USB bridge and half-width Laiv Audio Harmony DAC. All else was inactive so redundant. Say "you're fired." Simple does it. That Lotus 10 itself couldn't cancel my lateral room mode between the sidewalls like our 'super-dipole' sub does with its counter-phase cancellation was par for the course.
Ditto for bass textures that were softer and bloomier than dual 15" Audio Technology woofers facing each other in close proximity to lock in extreme stoppage. For me the spare bass output still available from Cube's rear rotaries was entirely out of bounds. Ideally I'd have reached for an imaginary minus-2 position. My takeaway is that the full horsepower of Lotus 10 really looks at larger spaces than ours.
Of course that's exactly what Marek's explanation of the Lotus 10 project brief had told us already. With prelims on which amp to use over, could I already chill, kick back and enjoy my new chair, footstool and visiting widebanders? After a first dégustation of a familiar playlist, I thought that Cube's best had now pulled mostly even with Qualio's firstborn on the type LF bandwidth which exhibits far less of that resonant character that plagues many variations of back-loaded 'horns' and 'transmission lines' in this sector. Just so, the means are a far larger overall cab than what the rear-ported IQ needs to do the same job; and more than twice the cheddar. Based on my amp shuffle, there was more. All of IQ's three drivers lust after or at least appreciate high-current transistor drive. Yet Lotus 10's two transducers might have dissimilar appetites. The woofer responded ideally to my low-Ω push/pull class AB muscle amps. The hi-eff widebander clearly preferred higher impedance and less current to be pickier than Nenuphar. What amp might make both drivers equally happy to truly get their best?
