Cerwin Vega owner


Good afternoon,

I consider myself a bit of a sound nerd and have been involved with music since I was young. I never sat down and put money into any particular hifi or audiophile system, but I do love music and I have a clear opinion on how it should sound.

About 3 months ago I came across a pair of VS-120s and picked them - great condition and all. All I had around to drive these with was a Yamaha amp (Rx-V371).

I hooked this up using some 16-gauge cables and the first thing I listened too was some lossless audio files from Apple with analog connection to the Yamaha from my Macbook. The amp has a "straight" setting with all controls being disabled. No Sub is present. So my playback has no EQ or filtering.

My listening space has all the problems with 1 wall being 3 windows, 2nd wall being behind the speakers, 3 wall being open to a dining room and the backwall (isnt a wall) open to my office double doors, 10 foot ceiling, uncovered wood floor, no speaker "spikes".

No matter what I play, it sounds terrific including opening this amp all the way up. I was expecting this to blow fuses. It doesn’t. I haven’t measured the SPL from my listening point, but it goes waay up. Still sounding clean.

I have been through about all tracks I have ever seen mentioned as "reference tracks" and I dont miss anything from what I can tell.

I would love to add some critical listening "skills" to my very basic setup here to show me what I could possibly be missing out on. There has to be a reason I am 10-20k under "good", but I don't seem to hear that...

no_r_way

I loved my stereo when I had a realistic receiver driving my bose 901vl that were flipped upside down on their pedestals and bolted to the ceiling, then an audiophile neighbor got jealous of my happiness (ignorance) and introduced me to Hifi shops and now I care about every little thing instead of being grateful I can enjoy a stereo.  Whats that old saying our dads used to sa? If it ain't broke...

Welcome to teh start of the journey. You have a long and enjoyable road ahead of you. Some of it can/will be inexpensive, some not so much.

Time listening, and hearing other good systems, will show you the path forward.  

Here is some important advice:  whenever you think your system sounds great, relax and enjoy it.  You will decide you need to upgrade some part of it soon enough.

Jerry