Thinking about selling my Vincent 737

What's your budget?

Not knowing your budget makes it a bit difficult.

But I would go with something like Aric Audio or Supratek pre into a AVA power amp, that would give you a lot for your money.

Good hunting.

Budget would be around $500-$1000 on top of what i can get from selling the vincent

Your weak point is your loudspeakers. The Klipsch RF8000s are OK but you can do better. I'd keep the Vincent, it's a nice unit. Start shopping for something that sounds good to you. Upgrading your electronics won't get you much for your money.

@mobrien1 Wrote:

Was thinking a tube pre amp and a separate solid state power amp or mono blocks? Budget would be around $500-$1000 on top of what i can get from selling the vincent

Look at a Schiit Vidar 2 Amp $799 and a Freya+ Preamp $1049 or mono blocks Tyr $1599 each.

Mike

@russ69, makes a good point.

Yeah, i plan to upgrade my speakers soon. But my thought was currently that i dont utilize the wifi or the dac built into the vincent as they are superfluous. So maybe i could sell it and get something better without the bells and whistles i dont need. 

That makes sense to me! I prefer everything separate.

Mike

I agree with Russ above. Your integrated is fairly powerful and really well reviewed. I would look at speakers 1st then look at a new amp later if you still feel the need to do so. 

I am also in the camp to keep the Vincent. They are great integrated amplifiers, I have owned one. You already have an external DAC. You have already spent less on the Vincent internal DAC than you would lose selling it for another amplifier.  There are many speaker upgrades that your amp would support.

Most amps quoted are no better than the Vincent, many are far inferior. I have the pre power version and it will last you a few upgrades yet. My experience is it does not match well with any high efficiency speakers I have tried (that's a lot) certainly not with Klipsch. This amp will drive far better speakers. 

Your weak point is your loudspeakers. The Klipsch RF8000s are OK but you can do better. I’d keep the Vincent, it’s a nice unit. Start shopping for something that sounds good to you. Upgrading your electronics won’t get you much for your money.

^^^this.

I would not dump that Vincent til the rest of the system catches up, and even then be really certain before you let it go. You could always roll some different tubes to vary the sound a bit. Danny Richie from GR Research might have some mods for your Klipsch. Or you might consider upgrading the crossover parts if you don’t want to to change speakers completely.

Any thoughts on what you specifically want to be different in your system?

Thanks for all the responses! Y'all convinced me to shift my thinking around. Ya think i would be better suited to sell the gustard dac and zen streamer to fund the new loudspeakers? Or should i keep the stuff i got? I remember the vincent wifi to be kind of a pain in the rear. As for the dac, i might be fooling myself into thinking theres a huge difference.

Also, what kind of speakers would you recommend that would work swimmingly with the vincent?

I would keep your streamer and DAC. Identify a speaker you would like to own over the ones you now have.  Save for those. Watch the used market.

Cool. Im gonna start looking for some new speakers then. As for tubes rolling, what are the absolute best 6n1p and 6n2p tubes out there? I know 12ax7 stuff just from being a guitar player, but these are a mystery to me. I'm not even sure if the voltage regulator one in the front is worth rolling, or when i might need to replace it. 

@henry53, when I hear that an amp sounds bad on efficiant speakers than it tells me that the amp has issues at low power or your upstream gear is deficiant.

My Altecs are brutal on bad gear or recordings, my Mac MC40's reproduce whats fed to them and the highly efficiant Altecs let you hear it all. 

BillWojo

@billwojo, +1

Mike

Agree about super efficient speakers (like the Altec’s or Klipsch). They’ll expose downstream electronics because of their efficiency and lack of distortion. I Have Fortes which will magnify my crappy streamer’s shortcomings (WiiM mini).  I Like the Vincent. Probably look at different streamers/DACs. Or, if you want something speakerwise to mask some of the electronics, I also have a pair of Buchardt 400 Mk2 that are not very efficient, but not nearly as sensitive to electronics.

Hearing your budget, I agree with some of the guys here in keeping your Vincent, I would think you need more funds to get better sound quality. But if you want different sound, why not try some other intergrated amps?

your biggest change will always come in changing your speakers.