Thank you for the responses!
My continuing saga.
I take the Rogue Magnum 99 back to my local dealer and ask him what he considers a step up from the Rogue that I could try as an in home audition. He suggests that I might try an ARC LS26 that has just come in on trade. He also points out an Asethetix Janus but the number of tubes (12) sort of scares me away.
We talk a while and he asks me if I want to consider an amplifier change in addition to, or rather than, a preamp change. He says that I will not know how it sounds until I try. He points out a pair of Classe CAM200 monoblocks that had come in on trade and said maybe I would like to try them.
So...I take home the Classe CAM 200's plus the ARC LS26 preamp.
I get home and ask myself where should I start? I decide to switch out my W4S ST1000 for the Classe monoblocks thinking it would be easier than switching out the preamp (it was not) plus I was interested to see what would happen with an amp change.
Well, my oh my - surprise!
The Classe CAM 200's completely changed the sound of my system. It was definitely warmer, there was better depth of field, and the bass had more texture but with less slam than what I hear with the W4S ST1000. There seemed to be more live presence/detail as well, which I suppose is due to the signal to noise of 135 dbl for the Classe monoblocks. I think that this also tells me that the W4S STP SE is very quiet as well.
In short, I think that the Classe monoblcoks could be an improvement and I ought to hang onto the W4S pre a while longer while I go down the amp rabbit hole.
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
My continuing saga.
I take the Rogue Magnum 99 back to my local dealer and ask him what he considers a step up from the Rogue that I could try as an in home audition. He suggests that I might try an ARC LS26 that has just come in on trade. He also points out an Asethetix Janus but the number of tubes (12) sort of scares me away.
We talk a while and he asks me if I want to consider an amplifier change in addition to, or rather than, a preamp change. He says that I will not know how it sounds until I try. He points out a pair of Classe CAM200 monoblocks that had come in on trade and said maybe I would like to try them.
So...I take home the Classe CAM 200's plus the ARC LS26 preamp.
I get home and ask myself where should I start? I decide to switch out my W4S ST1000 for the Classe monoblocks thinking it would be easier than switching out the preamp (it was not) plus I was interested to see what would happen with an amp change.
Well, my oh my - surprise!
The Classe CAM 200's completely changed the sound of my system. It was definitely warmer, there was better depth of field, and the bass had more texture but with less slam than what I hear with the W4S ST1000. There seemed to be more live presence/detail as well, which I suppose is due to the signal to noise of 135 dbl for the Classe monoblocks. I think that this also tells me that the W4S STP SE is very quiet as well.
In short, I think that the Classe monoblcoks could be an improvement and I ought to hang onto the W4S pre a while longer while I go down the amp rabbit hole.
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?