Thanks to all who have responded so far.
Hey Jeff, the room is about 12x24x9 and is most probably part of the problem with hardwood flooring and no area rug yet (still looking). Musical preferences include all kinds of jazz, some classical on FM, and some rock from time to time.
Another problem is that I can't really demo the gear that I have read about. The dealers in my area don't carry much tube equipment and what they do is beyond my budget. Speaking of which I can probably stretch out to $4k-$5k for a pre and an amp.
I have the Shallco and I knew that more recent units of the BC21.1 have the gain switch, but I was under the impression that mine does not have it - stupid of me not to have checked. I will also try the amp directly into the wall outlet, rather than plugging it into the BC balanced conditioner.
I really like the Rune speakers - they aren't horns, the main driver is a 10" cone. However, you're right about them not going very deep, although the bass they do produce is tuneful and fairly tight. I'm not really after deeper bass, just somewhat greater presence (my audio vocabulary may not be accurate). I've played with the positioning a bit and will look at that again, but there isn't a lot of room to play with before my better-half starts to weigh in about how much space the speakers are taking up. ;-)
Marco, the Wright Sound gear is probably at the top of my list at the moment. Thanks for the advice about switching the amp as a first step. I'm open to SET or Push-Pull.
Hey Jeff, the room is about 12x24x9 and is most probably part of the problem with hardwood flooring and no area rug yet (still looking). Musical preferences include all kinds of jazz, some classical on FM, and some rock from time to time.
Another problem is that I can't really demo the gear that I have read about. The dealers in my area don't carry much tube equipment and what they do is beyond my budget. Speaking of which I can probably stretch out to $4k-$5k for a pre and an amp.
I have the Shallco and I knew that more recent units of the BC21.1 have the gain switch, but I was under the impression that mine does not have it - stupid of me not to have checked. I will also try the amp directly into the wall outlet, rather than plugging it into the BC balanced conditioner.
I really like the Rune speakers - they aren't horns, the main driver is a 10" cone. However, you're right about them not going very deep, although the bass they do produce is tuneful and fairly tight. I'm not really after deeper bass, just somewhat greater presence (my audio vocabulary may not be accurate). I've played with the positioning a bit and will look at that again, but there isn't a lot of room to play with before my better-half starts to weigh in about how much space the speakers are taking up. ;-)
Marco, the Wright Sound gear is probably at the top of my list at the moment. Thanks for the advice about switching the amp as a first step. I'm open to SET or Push-Pull.