Audio Research VT100 MK1 and LS15 HELP!!!


I recently bought this set VT100MK1 and preamp LS15 and while I was at this seller house he demonstrated the sound from his online Tidal on TV connect optical to the DAC Luxman DA - 06 then this go to the preamp LS15 and out into the VT100. This set up sounds amazing at his house. However, when I came home play CD from the Sony X1100ES Blu-ray player RCA output into the LS15 and out to the VT100 and it sound horrible - no bass at all in any type of music.  The sound sometime muffle and not clear and most importantly the bass missing tremendously. Im using a pair of KEF R900 Speakers. What is wrong here? can anyone help me correct the sounds? it is because I didn’t have the Luxman DA - 06 DAC? or it is because I don’t have those fancy hundred - thousands of dollars cable?  or the CD source is playin at 41khz /16 bit not high enough signal?  

This is my first system and I don’t know why I can’t get that high fidelity sound from the ARC equipments.  I'm waiting for the Audioengine B1 to arrive so I can stream Spotify into the LS15.   What is wrong with my set up?  Thank you in advance for helping me solve this.
kentrent
@lowrider57 from preamp to amp is XLR cable.   Everytime i turn on the preamp one of the tubes sparks.  That seems like one of the tube is defect? 
Yes. Do you have a spare of the same tube type? If you replace the tube and it sparks again, you need service.
@lowrider57 i just bought this unit off from someone yesterday and he told me nothing wrong with it. So i guess he lied to me :(( 

i dont have any spare tube.  If I replace this tube myself, do i need to rebais or anything i need to know? Perhaps this may fix my bass response problem?


No need to bias the preamp tubes. They're set at the factory.

If there's a short or other issue in the circuit the tube could blow again.  
It would be great if you only need a new tube. 

@lowrider57 so do u think replacing the bad tube would fix the bass response problem? Could this be the culprit of the low bass sound overall?