Sometimes when you drive a system too hard...it becomes brittle. Distortion, dynamics being ltd. Yes, you might try KT120s...but i would be most curious as to what would happen if you changed amps to a bigger ARC mono. |
I always wanted to like ARC but never could. Always a little metallic or thin to my ears. It might be interesting to try something like a Luxman 590AII before dumping the speakers. Not a huge investment for you and it would be a big change. |
Just a suggestion -- Call John Rutan at Audio Connection in Verona NJ. He is an authorized dealer for both Vandies and ARC and knows his gear. He might be able to help. |
How many hours are on your output tubes???? |
Thanks, to all I personal dont think i'm pushing it that hard before sound changes. Right about half way, What would be the next step, I want mono's, but not for sure if tubes can handle it when turned up, Is there a good SS amp that has the warmth of tubes. Before i bought the Vandy's i listen to them at Audio Connection, thats what sold me on them, But they were powered by a nice set of Quicksilver v4, the only reason i switched to ARC is i thought the added power would help, and everybody i talked too loved the sound of ARC with Vandy's. I have about 150 hours on the tubes. I heard the Ref's 210 were very close in sound quality, and the Ref's 250 are out of my price range right now. Any suggestion would be great thanks |
I woulds suggest you call me before you piss away more
money, that some of the well intended folks here will have you spending.
A few key points of set up will be the solution.
973 239 1799
John |
Where do you have the gain set on the LS25, low, med or high? The Ref 210's are going to have about the same power output as the VM 220s. Though the Ref amps have a little different type of sound. KT120 tubes will up the power a little bit. But I am not sure power is the problem. It would not hurt to play with the setup a bit. Also I have never been a big fan of Kimber with Audio Research gear.
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Hello the gain is normaly set MED unitl i turn it up then i switch it to LOW, Have KK on the Biwire speaker cables and Alpha Core Goertz silver on Interconnects. I have also tried Synergistic and Cardas which i did not like at all. |
Just wondering if its the phono stage, I listen 95% vinyl and the phono stage is an inexpensive Clearaudio Nano! Could that be the problem. |
I keep my LS25's gain at Med. You could test to see if the same thing happens when you play a CD. That way you can see if it is the phono preamp or not. You can also borrow a demo phono preamp from your dealer and see if that makes a noticable difference. Though I have never tried them, Vandersteen speakers are suppose to be a really good match with ARC amps.
I also did not like Cardas with my system either. ARC uses both Shunyata cables and power cords at shows. I just replaced both the power cables on my LS25 and Ref CD7 with Shunyata. I already had a Shunyata Black Mamba for my Ref 110. My interconects and speaker cables are old ARC Litz II. |
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I made the call to John, and he was very helpful as usual, I should have called him first, just didnt want to bother him, He made a couple good sugestion, first recalibrate the pots, we calculated different speaker locations, He will be sending a demo pair of interconectors, I will be getting different driver tubes (6n1p) new old stock from him. and moving the component rack out of the middle of speaker, to a side wall. I let everybody know this weekend, thanks |
I have vm220s and it is possible to clip them, this depends on your preamp voltage, and the voltage of the source component. Sorry, that's as much as I can say without coming over to your house, I run mine in a way that they don't sound distorted, clipped, or compressed, they play clean, or I turn them down. Your equipment will let you know if you are pushing it too hard, listen to it (so to speak). |
I have the tungsol kt120 in the vm220 and I believe there would be a difference. If you believe bob latino's website, he seems to indicate there is an 8% increase, or so, and that's on his amps, but he does have a graph that's convincing. But ymmv.
i Also i have 3 VTL mb450 and I switch back and forth, coke or 7up?
I don't know what tubes might possibly lack. Biamp if you wish? |
