ARC VM 220 WITH VANDERSTEEN WOOD QUATRO

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.

Did you make the call?

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?