2. speakers
  3. 1092011454

VSA VR4 Gen III SE biamp questions.

I own a pair of Von Schweikert VR4 Gen III SE's which I drive (comfortably) with a pair of Electrocompaniet AW220 mono blocks.

The bottom is end is wonderful, however the mids and highs (at least to my ears) are just OK, but nothing special. Specifically, they sound lacking in body and texture, and just a tad to dry for my tastes.

So, I think tubes would be the answer. But, I love the bottom end, so I've been entertaining the idea of biamping the VR4's using the AW220's on the bottom, and using tubes on the midrange - treble.

What I am want to get is more texture, body, roundness, fullness and air (I guess I want it all).

Now, for the questions:

First, do I use a 'Y' connector out of the back of my CD player (Audio Aero Capitol Mk II) with one set of IC's to the AW220's (for the bottom) and one set of IC's to the tube amp?.

Secondly, if you've tried this arrangement with your VR4's (or other like speakers), what do you think? Was it worth it? Would you do it again?

Lastly, if you've tried this with the VR4's, how much power do you think I'll need for the tube amp (remember, this amp will be dedicated for the midrange / treble speaker - no bottom end) and any suggestions on a good tube amp (stereo of mono) somewhere in the $4k price range, give or take $1k (preferably take). New or used.

In conclusion, thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing back from anyone who has gone this route.

Happy Listening!!

Louis
louisl
apollo
11 posts
 
You are right to finger the ss amp. In my humble view, one loses much more overall than one gains in bass tightness with a ss amp. With just a little more tube power, you won't even remember what is was about the ss sound that you liked. I achieved a sound much BETTER than expected when I removed the ss amp and connected 200 watt/ channel tubes to my VR-4 speakers.

And keeping it simple with one amp is ALWAYS better. Back in my TRI amp days, I could easily entertain the neighbors with soundlevel, but I was not happy!
perfectionist
197 posts
 
Louis, I just received my VR-4's this weekend. I am bi-amping using solid state and tubes with excellent results. Also, using a tube pre-amp. At this point, I see no need to attenuate either amp(s) or put any external xo's on, although I may experiment in the future. I ran the same setup on my PSB Stratus Gold's and it also worked well, but I feel it's even a better match up with the VR's. The gain on the Aragon is 28db and on the Manley's it's 32db in Tetrode mode. The sensitivity on the m/t module is 8ohm and 4ohm on the bass module. I was worried about how everything would mate up, but so far, I thinks it's just an incredible combo. Smooth on the top and solid slam on the bottom and very dynamic. An audiophile friend of mine (who has much more knowledge than myself) said it sounded a little bass heavy to him, but we were listening to techno and the VR's are not broken in yet. As far as cabling, you just need a pre-amp with two sets of mains to feed the amps. I don't think I'd ever go back to all ss or tubes. Please see my system for a little more detail
r_burke
212 posts
 
You didn't mention a pre-amp?

I did a similiar hookup with a shanling CDP that had an internal volume, so didn't need a pre. Initially I used a pair of Y's from the CDP, but then I went to an Active Crossover (AXO). You can get AXOs pretty cheap (~200) if you use professional instead of HiFi stuff, mine is a RANE SAC 22.

Good luck and good listening
robm321
932 posts
 
What do you have the rear firing ambiance driver set at? If it’s too low for your room it will cause midrange and highs to sound dry.

Rob
More to discover