Monoblock Aegirs

Thanks for the replies, you made my decision a bit more difficult. 😁 Much more to consider anyway!

twoleftears,

I will give them a call, I was actually just looking at their website!  Thanks 

ditusa192,
I just looked up the speakers you are playing with, I wasn't familiar with 4435's.  Good lord those suckers take up some real estate!!!

georgehifi,
I guess I kind of glazed over that DNA part the first time you mentioned it.  As mentioned, above my skill set.
Thanks

georgehifi7

Thanks  for the explanation, glad I came here and asked.👍🏻

George,
I’ll have to take your word, I wouldn’t know what I am looking at. Just want to make them sound good at a somewhat reasonable price. Maybe I will have to buy them all and see what arrangement works best and send what I don’t use back.

Also need to take a look at the Belles Aria that was mentioned when I have some time.

Thanks

wturkey

Interesting! I guess I should of probably started off by shooting them an email. Curious if it is the same for the Aegir.

Thanks, appreciate the info on the sound quality issues caused by bridging, I had never looked in to it. Using both had crossed my mind but I had always read that when bi-amping the amps should be of the same type. The sys would address the gain issues. Curious if putting the sys in-line would negate the benefits of the relayed volume in the Freya +?

George,
I dusted off the old owners manual because I thought I recalled some bi-amp instructions. Mr. Vandersteen says no go on the horizontal bi-amping with two different amps idea, he gives a lengthy explanation as to why not on pg. 4. 🤷🏻‍♂️ He recommends vertical bi-amping with two of the same amps.

Aegirs probably wouldn’t have enough in the tank for that configuration.

http://www.vandersteen.com/media/files/Manuals/2ce_signature_ii_manual.pdf

George,

“But, when the midrange driver is being driven by a different amplifier than the woofer, (and in these cases by amplifiers not chosen for the similarity in their sounds, but rather for the difference in their sounds), the blending between the drivers is compromised and the sonic consistency of the speaker is inhibited.
Even if the levels of the two amplifiers are matched for one volume level, the amplifiers will still exhibit different dynamic characteristics, different imaging characteristics, different degrees of detail and instrument texture and different tonal balances. With the crossover between the woofer and midrange occurring in a range where the ear is very sen- sitive to any sonic changes, these differences will create con- siderable sonic confusion through the important midrange.
The only way to properly bi-amplify the Model 2Ce Signature II is passively with two identical amplifiers in a vertical configuration.” (R. Vandersteen)

That may very well be the case, he didn’t make reference to timing or phase, but rather to what happens to the mids due to the use of two different amplifiers with his speaker design.

I very much appreciate the time you have taken to opine, but I think I may heed the advice of the speaker designer in this particular case.


Bob,

I did look into the Belles Aria integrated that was suggested. Not a whole lot of info available except for glowing reviews, particularly with Vandersteen speakers. Which makes the decision much harder. The narrowing process got a bit wider.🤦🏻‍♂️ Would have to wrap my head around going with an integrated, and his monoblocks although reasonably priced are a bit out of my meager budget. I don’t usually suffer from upgrade-Itus, I have had the same speakers since ‘98 and ran them for the majority of that time with a receiver that I shared a birthday with.

I haven’t completely thrown out the monoblock Aegir idea, going to talk with Schiit.

But that leaves me with;

CXN V2 as preamp -> Vidar
Simple, clean and inexpensive.

CXN V2 as preamp -> Vidar X2 Bi-Amped
Possibly minimal benefit for $700 more.

CXN V2 as source -> Saga or Freya -> Vidar
Future phono flexibility but not a high priority

CXN V2 -> Belles Aria
Same

I previously had them hooked up to an old Marantz 2270, prior to the 5 channel Parasound that is pulling surround sound duty now. I miss the way that the Marantz would seemingly suck you in and make you want to listen to any music that I threw on for hours. Instead of a constant urge to scroll through tidal searching for particular tracks that sound really good. Looking for that good immersive feeling at higher quality level if that makes sense.🤷🏻‍♂️

ditusa191 "BTW, What georgehifi said about bi-amping the vandersteen 2ce sig II is correct. :-)"

Thanks fort the info, it seems that several people are having pretty good luck running them as bridged monoblocks.

Which part are you referring to, that running your amps as monoblocks is a waste of good amps or that Vandersteen’s manual saying not to do horizontal bi-amplification with dissimilar amplifiers is is incorrect? Not trying to be argumentative, or discounting anyone’s experience, just looking for the best solution and tend to be one who follows instruction manuals. But you are correct, I can always return the Schiit!

Garrison