Von Schweikert VR4JR & Tube Amp???


So...without boring you with too much details, I've been FORCED to move my rig into a small dedicated room in my basement. I currently have the above speakers, Marantz SA8260 SACD/CD, Marantz PM7200 (95wpc), Kimber Silver Streak, Audioquest Montblanc & CV-6. My room is only about 12x10 and it's in a corner of my finished basement so, I have two walls that are poured concrete behind the paneling. Obviously, the sound sucks. Since the room is fully enclosed and mine alone, I literally had to surround the room with R-15 Insulation covered with heavy felt moving-blankets and built some baffling in the corners. Ceiling is typical foam drop-ceiling tiles. Floor is carpeted. After some experimentation with speaker placement, I have ACCEPTABLE sound accross most frequencies except the bass (too boomy). Now here's the question: I'm hoping to make the following hardware changes as final adjustments since I might be here for awhile: Replace the PM7200 with a Primaluna Prologue 2 or Manley Stringray and the Audioquest cables with Kimber 8TC. I don't have the experience with or the ability to audition the considered new gear but, what do you wise and insightful folks think???
pawlowski6132

Showing 4 responses by pardales

What other tube amps have people used with the JR's? Assuming, of course, room tuning and placement are all sound, it seems that 60WPC tubes is a minimum?
Well said, Arkio. One mistake people often make with the Jr's is to not fill their chamber with shot or sand. Most who know about these consider this essential to set-up. As with any speaker attention to set-up and room acoustics is vital.
So, do you guys think a BAT VK-55 would be powerrful enough to drive the JR's fully? I am curious about tubes and listen at pretty low volumes -- but I like to have full sound a low volumes.
Thanks, Blindjim. I suspect the 55 would drive them as well. I really do listen at low volumes 90% of the time and even when I turn it up its not that loud. I do have my JR's biwired right now but the amp ends of my wire are joined together as I only have one set of taps on my amp.