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What would you buy

I am a tube lover. I currently have a Rogue Chronus Magnum and Vandys 2 sig E. I'm thinking upgrading my system. I believe I can get 1K for the Rogue and add 5K for a total of 6K available to spend. planning to keep the Vandys but I feel that my taste desires a little more bass than what I'm getting now. Vandys are great in the mids , voices etc but it lacks some deep bass. The Rogue doesn't have an output for a sub woofer. Musical taste is classic rock, jazz and blues. Here is the question with 6K to spend in amp/pre, integrated or mono/amp, what would you buy?
128x128lobinero
clearthink
1,421 posts
 

stereo5"Thank God we have millercarbon here to school all of We Audio no-nothings.  Over 50+ years in the hobby and still don’t know as much as him."

It has been said that "It is never too late to learn" but please know and understand that millercarbon is often outright wrong about many of the "facts", claims, and advise he distributes here.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
Also no matter which transformers coupled amp you choose do experiments with light loading the output transformers- so for example I use the 2 ohm tap on my RM-9 with Vandersteen Treo to great effect and keeps the amp in class A longer - the test is listening and light loading IF your levels can keep you out of clipping.

Roger M wrote extensively this and many related subjects- a search will reveal a lot of free wisdom- RIP Roger
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
To the OP - a couple of questions re bass and positioning of your 2’s in room.

how far from back wall ? Do you have SPL meter ? Can you download and play Vandertones ( via Vandersteen website ) thru your system. What is your reference track for bass ? Willing to help you get it dialed in :-)

best
jim
lobinero's avatar
lobinero OP
76 posts
 
tomic601
my vandies are 36 inches from th back wall and 22 from the sides. this measurement is from the center of the of the speaker top. My room is 23"x 12' carpeted .
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,807 posts
 
Tube amp sound is dominated by the output transformers
as for efficiency, so often higher output is just trash - out of phase junk that counts as output.
Both statements above are not really accurate. What about OTLs- they have no output transformer (and drive the Vandys quite nicely).  I've heard plenty of speakers with greater efficiency that are great- they higher output they have is just fine.


As far a sub, the Swarm is an excellent choice, being one of the best out there. No room correction needed, because it gets rid of problems with standing waves, and flat to 20Hz. If the bass below 80Hz were filtered out of the amp for the Vandys, 60 watts would be plenty in a room of this size. This is easy to do; we've made passive crossovers for Vandersteens a good number of times in the past.
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