Audio research vsi-60 power concerns

You can still satisfy your tube fever, it will just take more tube power than you originally thought.

You need a good sub. The 804S will miss most of the low bass Pink Floyd material. After the sub start looking at amps. The vsi-60 will probably be fine for that speaker.

I own a pair or 804s as well as a pair of Wilson Sophias. I just had the vsi60 for an in home demo for about a week. Compared to 200+wpc solid state amps from the likes of Bryston4b-st, Rotel rb-1582 and Krell kav-250 the only thing you are missing is a small amount (3-5db) of headroom however most of the music that you are listening to does not have huge dynamic swings. What you gain is an expansive soundstage holographic highs and an extremely magical midrange. The VSi 60 also does something intangible it just seems to pull you into the music more. My advice is to get the vsi60 and a decent sub and love the music your system is producing for years to come.

Palena79,
You make a strong case. A good tube power amplifier does seem to present/capture more emotion of the music and possesses that 'breath of life' factor that I seem to find less often with SS amplifiers(there are exceptions).I know exactly what you mean.
Regards,

You might find using KT-120's instead of 6550's, if it's possible with that integrated, may give you a bit more headroom and a bit more slam in the bass.