Unsound > Ideological vs. pragmatic?
Blindjim > got to admit, I’ve never heard of those amps or speakers but I’ve sure either one would be a nice starting place.
I’ve generally always felt the ‘source’ was the main idea. Put the bulk of the funds there. Amp (s), next. Then speakers.
The first ‘from nuttin’ to sumptin’ rig as usual for me back then was via an amp. HT red in fact it was a Kenwood stereo receiver and a pair of Bretagne Geostatic monitors I bought in Naples Italy 1975.
Life took me away from home audio for a long time.
In the 90s another Kenwood discrete receiver and a pr of Phase Tech monitors dropped in. had a cup of coffee and split.
In ’00 I decided to get ‘deep into it’ and launched my devotion squarely at getting a very competent stereo.
A Sony ES HT multi ch rec had my eye, and a pr of BW 600 series FS took up residence.
A B&K amp camped out for a few weeks until I gave it walking papers and a krell KaV . 250 landed lying to me all the while saying, “I’m all you’ll ever need”.
More book shelf spkrs landed as well as a Velodyne sub.
A krell likewise preamp that probably used Craig’s list to find the KAV amp, sneaked in and new BW floor standers were requested by the newlyweds.
In ’04 a new house was built with a room just begging for dedication.
Suddenly I stumbled onto Audiogon and the madness exploded. Wires and well, all sorts of insanity ensued.
BWs were replaced by monitor Audio Gold’s.
Passive power line conditioners, hippies actually, slid in looking for some sort of communal approach and opened a whole other bag of worms. Which try as they might, just did not sell. It must have been a poor market for worms.
The youthful Krells were evicted and a more mature couple from B.A.T. including a VK5 and VK 500 w/BAT pk, signed the lease agreeing to push the new Gold’s.
A Sony 777 CDP arrived and things got way better.
More wires brought along some power cords and they all sneaked in a partially open window along with a rack, and some dedicated circuits.
Then a pair of VSA VR4JRs in sinful red seductively slithered in bouncing the Gold’s out quite harshly.
Itty bitty tubes came and went as the vk5 line stage used a ton of them and my curiosity was seldom slaked.
The VSA spkrs got me onto the road for a real education on cabling.
A very nice DAC joined the band and the room got a full make over.
A new line stage fell from the Heavens and I was able to catch it and the accessories shortly thereafter had me squarely sitting at heaven’s gates. Or just down the street. Absolutely no further than the suburbs.
So it seemed a good idea at that point to sell it. So I did. Mostly.
Improving one area, speakers or amplifiers simply begged improving upon its mate. It is where I found out about speaker & amp relationships, and who is more demanding, and of what.
That little voyage schooled me on the glory or infamy of power cords.
This thread made me think back and I was surprised to recall I actually did exit one system to begin another by getting speakers first. Went from lower Eff to higher eff, and a tad more up the food chain, like by double MSRP, almost.
VSA VR4JR > Silverline Sonata III
The old antique Velo sub trickled into the bedroom, and a Velodyne DD 15 took its place.
Truth be told at that point, there was no sane reason for doing anything else except pursuing my own curiosity about tube power amps.
Indeed, that outfit was the best sounding most resolving balanced rig I’ve had.
So of course, I began selling parts of it off beginning with the amp naturally.
Then, came a series of tube amps as a few rolled in and out until one pair finally pushed all of the necessary buttons.
BAT VK 60; Dodd 120 monos were the last stop.
Around 2010 - 2012 life as I reported here suddenly altered my priorities and bit by bit my rig disappeared. Mostly.
Presently debating on my next epic voyage into madness, I feel I’m gonna start with the emphasis on the power train. I tend to feel this is where the soul of the music is being developed and conveyed. Loudspeakers are merely the messengers.
It’s a very good thing to have great messengers.
I did initially think to do as so many others and drop a large *(for me) wad on speakers first, then see what best suits them as the tour bus stumbles along. But it occurred to me it’s a mite more complicated than that, especially if one harbors a proclivity for a particular set of sonic parameters or in short, lower powered tube amps usually less than 150 – 100wpc. Possibly far less watts. Speaker selections automatically are reduced. Add in preffs for color and or esthetics, and still fewer models abound. Come to think of it, I suppose its vice or versa at the end of the day.
So the plan going forward now most likely, as nothing is set to stone around here, is to travel first. Once I’ve gotten a bit more educated on what this or that seems to sound like, then get the quality power line in, and then waltz in a few speakers from low to higher in costs, and stop where things feel more right than not, audibly speaking that is.
Or simply buy the one setup that sounds good enough right on the spot.
One of these paths appears best as I’m doubtful a slam dunk match made in heaven will burst onto the scene with the first volley. It could end up too that a completely different approach on power is developed if I choose to ignore one preference for sound and get deeply into lust for speakers whose demands are better suited to lots o watts.
Or just build it all starting with some really cool iso footers.
Great thread. Thanks.
