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 1 response by soberdude

Pawlowski6132:

I have been using a "true" bi-wired set of Kimber 4TC (tweeter/mid module) and 8TC (woofer) cables on my original VR-4's (and which I had previously used with my Vandy 2Ce Sigs). Though I have occasionally flirted with bouts of "upgrade" obsession, I realize that there is no rational need for me to spend any more $$$ on different speaker cables. Not that I'm saying their isn't something "better", but I believe the Kimber are very balanced, coherent, and a great overall performance/value, and moreso just wanted to offer my recommendation based on my actual use of them with VR speakers.

On the other hand, I also previously auditioned a set of the AQ CV-6 with my former Vandy speakers, and which I found to also be a very good speaker cable (and also for the $), so keep in mind that in your case, switching from the AQ CV-6 to the Kimber may only be a "lateral" move, (maybe even depreciative?). Note that I did not use the AQ cables with the VR-4s since my audition of them was at a time way before I made my change from Vandy to VR speakers.

I understand you're trying to "tune" your system, and I'm inclined to agree with the others about room tuning as a primary focus, and I'm not sure if the change you're considering of your already better than decent cables is prudent towards your objective.

Just my two cents.

Chuckster