From Vandersteen 2CE to Devore Gibbons 8 or Focal

stereo5, your fine speakers have a 6.5" woofer, correct? You really can't expect them to put out a lot of bass, in that regard the 836V is superb. The focals also have clean highs and mids. I have a pair of impact 10's that I may have for sale in a few days. They are excellent for the money, good output and control. Let me know if you are interested. You are better off using the speaker level inputs unless your preamp is quite close to the sub. That's been my experience with tube preamps and subs.

Stere5

welcome to the lunatic fringe!

I am glad you like your speakers

If I were you I would try another brand of wire just to see if you could enhance the bass (I know nothing of MIT - just a guess)

my 2 cents...

I can't get over the 825 miles in one day. That's a lot of driving.

I have 3 different brands of speaker wire on hand, the MIT was and has been the best of the bunch. 825 miles is the furthest I have gone in a day for audio equipment. The worst part is I drove through the New York to Washington corridor which has a crazy amount of traffic. I left at 7am and got home at 12:30am.

I definitely need a subwoofer as I am really in love with the mids and highs of the DeVore. It's just a question of what. I only want 1 sub and it will either be a 10 inch or 12 inch. I am leaning towards a Paradigm subwoofer but not sure. Still hoping to hear from John DeVore before I make the plunge.

I would wait to hear from John DeVore for sure as I am sure he has dialed in many subs with the Gibbon 8s and Super 8s and so should be able to make very appropriate suggestions. Congrats on your new and excellent speakers. They are truly very musical.