Need some audiogon expertise

Kool 39, You just said something that got my attention - that is, that you have to turn the volume up to make your speakers come alive! I don't know what you were running before you got the VMPS, but one of the common issues with dynamic speakers is the need to crank up the volume on some models. I replaced my Quad 63's with 3 way dynamics which use Dynaudio drivers and that was the first thing I noticed - how much louder I had to play them to get them to sound full - and thankfully how much better they sounded loud, as opposed to the Quads. That may be part of your problem ....just different performance from different types of speakers. Also, for what its worth, I have a room 2 feet shorted than yours and my speakers are pulled out from the back wall 5 feet, they are 2 feet from the side walls, they are toed in to cross in front of me to help reduce sidewall reflections caused by close placement to the side wall, and the listening position is 4 1/2 from the back wall. Soundstaging is excellent and I'm flat to a slight rise at 32hz with a fall of starting at 28hz. A lot of patience, the RS meter, and a good test disc helped a lot to dial in the speaker location as well as the listener location. My speaker location coincided with the one recommended by Rives site (I found his site after I did all the hard work). Good luck......

"Need some audiogon expertise" by the number of posts above all that comes to mind is "Too many cooks spoil the soup."

Better luck next time.

Newbee, I do notice quite an improvement with volume. I think you make a very good point. I use to own very efficent speakers which didnt take much volume at all to get them playing very dynamic. Then i moved to a more warm speaker that took lots of power to make them sing and they didnt last long here in my home. With Vmps i do like the dynamics at low levels just seems to be a little thin. But I have found by walking around the room to different areas the bass is increased in specific locations. So with the combination of such a dynamic speaker that does need a certain amount of power and the present placement of my speakers i have created this weakness. I will be working on my placement at this time. Thanks for all the advice.

Bowbow, obviously you have never been part of a phenomena know as "brainstorming". If i didnt want the experts to come forward with their opinions i would not have asked for help.I would have just sat in dissappointment for another 6 months wondering what might be my next alternative.

Thanks again all for your advice and recommendations.

Kool, from what you describe even though the specs say otherwise, it seems you might NOT be experiencing impedance mismatching with your preamp and amp.

I agree that experimenting with speaker placement would be the best place to start. Try pushing them closer to the back walls. Hopefully you can achieve a balance where bass fills out without becoming boomy or muddy, and soundstaging doesn't suffer.

Good luck.

Gunbei, thanks for the advice. I was looking at my audible illuions L-1 manual and it states that the output impedance is 1.2Kohm. The aragon 4004 mkII does have an input impedance of 22Kohm. This tells me i am on the low side of the of the guidline range but also i am well within it at 18 times. Not completely sure that some of the problem doesnt lie in this area but with the dynamics as such i highly doubt it.