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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
robm321
932 posts
 
All great responses.

I was able to overcome room problems and tuning the JR's. Beleive me the manual and setting up the global axis nextwork to integrate with the room is a must to get what these speakers can do. I think some people don't realize that and change speakers. The bass, rear ambiance driver and toe in all have to come together. Then you will get the transparency that the speakers are capable of.

Room treatment is a must also. More than some other speakers, because the JR's are designed to include the room as part of the soundstage. Although other speakers obviously take this into consideration as well, my experience with the JR's are that they can sound horrible in a bright room (more than some speakers) and like your case boomy, but if you take the patience setting up the speakers as explained in the manual and treat your room. You will come to fruision as I have (in my case 2 years), but it took that long because I didn't "get" the whole integration thing and treated them like typical speakers.

Hope this helps,
Rob
pardales
652 posts
 
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?
mcmiller
30 posts
 
I'm using a Premier 11A. Sounds sweet. Sounds even sweeter now bi-amped with an MF2250 on the bass cabinets and the P11A on top.
ajahu
306 posts
 
Unfortunetaly the vr4j got wonderful reviews, but, it has a boomy, sloe and fat bass, and roll offed highs. The best I have heard it was with the Manley Stringay. But only at moderate sound level. At higher level, the music has collapsed. Now, the dealer had a trick to 'calibrate' the vr4j. He half filled a small bottle (like one for medicine) with various small pieces of minerals. That made the sound 'harder', less boomy and gave more sense of top extension. They acted like the well reviewed acoustic resonators, but for nothing. Try it.
arkio
74 posts
 
Ajahu,
What utter nonsense...My bass is fast and articulate. Highs are sweet and extended. Something is terribly wrong with the setup(s) you heard. These speakers are by no means the last word but they are excellent for 4K and well beyond. The better the up front electronics the better these play. Tubes will certainly make them sound even better. But Bass issues ??? hardly...

good listening
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