Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?

For anyone who read my post above about comparing the Crown 1502's to the Schiit Vidar in my system, it's not even close.  It's actually surprising how much better the Vidar sounds. 

Now, that said, the configuration that I've found that sounds the most fun is to bridge the Crown amps for the low end on each side and run the Vidar amp to the upper end.  That way I get everything that's great about the Vidar amp with the basically unlimited power of the Crown amps for the bass.

If I listen to Erykah Badu with just the Vidar powering both speakers (with a jumper,) the low end isn't involving enough to really be fun.  I decided to try the Crown amps bridged and this is the fun I'm looking for.  As a bonus, I get level control for the bottom end through the amps.  

Is this the most high end configuration possible for these speakers?  No way.  But it's the most fun with what I have here in front of me.  The only other thing I want to try is driving the bass with the Yamaha M-85 I was using, but I don't actually have speaker wires to try that right now.  I have 3' Transparent The Wall speaker wires that I was using in my bedroom system (40" TV and CDM2's on my dresser.)  

I bought a bunch of Rockwool Safe N Sound on sale yesterday at Home Depot for $14/bag.  I'm going to make a bunch of sound absorption in the next week or so and see if that improves things further. 

I need to write to Anticable and see if I can modify my speaker cable order still or if it's too late.  I guess if they offer a trial/return policy then I can return them before they ship them.  I'm still not 100% sure what the best cable configuration is.  I was most surprised that I seem to prefer my Straghtwire interconnects to the Tranparent Music Link Plus for the high end.

I think my conclusion for the OP, as it pertains to this thread, is that it's way more complicated than someone in a forum on the Internet being able to just say "do this."  Maybe you'd love the Pass Labs recommended above in mono-block form, or maybe a couple of Crown amps like I have ($350/each) bridged for the bottom end would work for you, too, and leave you $2200 for a very sweet amp for the top.  My friend in college had Legacy speakers.  I'm sure they could have used a lot of power.

Thanks ron1319 for the feedback that is very interesting. I did a quick listening session with the Vidars yesterday to remind myself of how I felt. I do like the amps to be honest especially in the bass region but I can’t help but hear that buzz when I first turn them on and think “surely a quieter background would make these things sound better”. I’m in love with the idea of Pass Labs mono blocks but they are so expensive, I just don’t think I’ll be able to justify dropping $4-6K on them used unfortunately... I agree that it is more complicated then just listening to some like-minded folks on a forum. I think there are a lot more options to think about now with everyone’s recommendations which makes it harder, actually, because there is more that needs to be listened to lol. 

I like my legacys but but in a couple years I might move to the new Magico A3 (if I can get myself to spend that much... we will see). 

Sometimes I think appreciating what we each have as a system is underrated and not as appreciated as it should be, speaking for myself at least.

please let me know what you think of Saga. I like Freya and am running fully balanced, the unit has made me appreciate tubes a great deal especially on the pre-amp side of things.

I've changed too many things at once to have a good opinion of the Saga.  I wish I had something like a Levinson or a Classe pre amp lying around to compare.  

To be honest, I have a Benq W1070 in this room and my computer running and so my ambient noise is pretty loud.  Plus I usually have to set my HVAC to "fan on" in order to keep this room from overheating.  My phone dB meter says ~60db ambient.  I have considered trying to find a way to isolate the noise from my computer while not overheating it, plus try to find a way to reduce the noise from my HVAC and projector.  I could probably figure out how to do that.

I just put my head right in front of the speakers to try to hear what comes out of them with nothing playing through them.  I don't get a hiss, but I do have audible USB noise.  I can't hear it in my listening position, but it's really obvious up close.  I didn't realize how much came through my Meridian Explorer.  I have to consider whether a Schiit Wyrd or a different DAC would be a better solution to that problem.

I've been catching up on Mr Robot and it is amazing how good these sound for TV.

Alright, I turned off my noisy projector and my phone says 47-52 db ambient noise with the HVAC off.  My phone doesn't seem to pick up the HVAC noise, but I can hear it when it's on.  If I put my head right in front of the speaker and turn the Vidar off and back on again, I can hear ever so slight of a hiss coming from the mid driver.  I would say relatively it's maybe 1/2 as loud as the hiss coming from the woofer which is being driven by the Crown amps.  So I have a little bit of noise coming from both amps.

I can't hear it from my listening position over the ~50db ambient noise.  

This does really make me want to build something to isolate my HVAC and projector noise from my listening position.  I can design that.  I might need to add a little quiet computer fan to be sure the projector is venting heat.  I suppose I should cut a hole in the ceiling and put a tube up through the insulation and vent the heat into the attic.  My only concern would be if it's 150 degrees in the attic in the summer and the fan is off and I let a lot of heat into the room.  I have to consider that more.  But it'd be an interesting and inexpensive experiment.

I do have two dedicated circuits in this room so my power comes straight from the breaker box and isn't feeding anything but my computer, my monitor, my projector and my sound system.  I suppose I could improve that my putting the projector and computer on one circuit and the entire sound system on the other.

I have a Furman DJ "power conditioner" that I basically use as a plug strip and I also have  "POWERVAR" power conditioner that I got on eBay maybe 10 years ago or so.  I don't know if it's good or bad but it was like $40 used.  I can experiment with those things a bit more.

In conclusion, I can't hear the noise from the Vidar in my room while in my listening position.

Maybe you should go to Guitar Center and buy a couple of these Crown amps and run your bass off of them.  They had a 15% restocking fee for up to 45 days.  The difference for me between running the entire speaker off of the Vidar (in stereo mode) and just running the top end was dramatic.  We're not talking 10-15% different, we're talking the difference between a serious high end system and one that was kind of mediocre.  

But there is a reason that the Stereophile review for these speakers says they had to bi-amp them with a pair of Levinson 335's to get them to sound good.  Would if I could.

Ok that answers some questions. I can’t hear anything from my listening position and I’m using an aurender with a SSD so computer noise is very minimal if present at all. If I have nothing on except the Vidars and I run my ears by the speakers I hear very little at the top end but the mid range and subs are humming. They are low and only audible within maybe 3 feet from the speakers but they are definitely producing sound. They amps are on a dedicated circuit - nothing on there with them at all. It was much worse before I did that but it’s still an issue. No power conditioners from my amps, just a surge protector plugged into the wall. This is an improved setup compared to the NAD (which was plugged up through a noisier battery backup) and It was quieter in spite of that so I think it’s the Vidars not the power.

If you plug the Vidar into a single speaker with nothing plugged into it (not bi-amped, the Vidar driving the entire range of the speaker) and put your ears next to the drivers can you hear anything? 

I might need to try a single Vidar in stereo mode, less wattage (dropping the wattage for my setup from 700W to 200W) so less noise... maybe... just thinking out loud.