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Set-Up Advice for Vandersteen 1Cs

I'm beginning to piece together a system and having previously owned a pair of Vendersteen 1Bs back in the late 90's before I sold all my equipment I purchased a pair used 1Cs for $299 and $80 shipping... hopefully this was a good price.

I have a small apartment and these will be in the living room with the TV and I would like the sound from my TV, Cable, Apple TV or Roku 3, Blu-Ray, a DAC connected to my ipad/iphone/macbook pro, and eventually a turntable to be able to play through this system. I plan I have zero interest in a surround sound system, so multichannel is not a concern.

My understanding is that I should probably get an HDMI switch with audio out since things like the Apple TV and Roku 3 don't have audio out and I'll want the audio from those to play through the system. This area is new to me so any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

To complicate things I would LIKE to have a tube amp if possible. I am willing to go solid state, but I would much much prefer tube.

My budget is somewhere in the $500-$750 range. I am planning on buying used equipment to get the most bang for my buck. Something with a phono input would be best, but obviously I can't have everything.

I've been completely out of the loop and this was totally a spur of the moment purchase for me but I don't have a tremendous amount of time or disposable income so I'm looking to greater minds than my own for assistance.
greatwhitebat
greatwhitebat OP
35 posts
 
Very interesting thread. is that Sketch up you are using? We use that when doing plans for furniture building (woodworking).

I'm using some random free thing I found for mac called Sweet Home 3D

I'm sure there are better things out there... even free. I just wanted something and this had good reviews. I wish it was easier to use and provided more information about placement, but whatever... I could probably spend 100s of hours just messing around with blueprints. I'm a bit obsessive.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
Check Amazon if you have a prime account or Partsexpress for spikes. The Vandies probably use a standard thread for their spikes and should be cheap and easy to find.

That seller should be tarred and feathered.
ablang
165 posts
 
If you have hardwood floors, you can skip the spikes and buy threaded felt-bottomed furniture glides at a hardware store. They're cheap, they save your floors, and the pitch on the threads is the same as for the Vandersteen spikes. I use them for my 1Cis.
greatwhitebat OP
35 posts
 
The hole/thread is 1/4" - 20
so I should be able to find that fairly easily. I'm looking around.

and unfortunately I have carpet in this apartment, so I'm stuck with spikes. I'm also stuck with carpet, and carpet is a visual nightmare... even if it's good carpet.
greatwhitebat OP
35 posts
 
I think I've sorted out the setup temporarily. I moved them forward and inched my couch forward 6 inches. The stands need the spikes, but I feel like that'll just help tighten things up a bit. Also, I need to close the door behind the right speaker when listening when listening... and DRAPES DRAPES DRAPES.

I'm really torn between amps:

NAD 3020: Easy. DAC included. SS which means maintenance free. Bluetooth. Cheap as hell, especially because it includes the DAC. I feel like it'll be completely the opposite of what I'm looking for... but I know it'd probably be a good temporary amp and eventually move into the bedroom.

Jolida JD102CRC: I love the way it looks. I want that tube sound. I want to get into tubes and play with tube rolling. I'm worried it won't be enough power because I hear they over estimate the power on these. No local dealer that I can find. Some questions about quality. I like the fact that the DAC isn't included so I can upgrade it separately, but it's far more expensive.

Peachtree Decco 65: DAC included. Some of the tube sound. Plenty of power. I can buy it locally.

Something else in the under 1K range: I don't know??

Yaqin: I want to believe these are reasonable... but I am heavily questioning it. It would be great to get a solid well built 50wpc in tubes with a remote for $500. It seems unlikely.

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