The SDA-1 is a good idea. Another possiblity might be a Classe Ten bridged to mono for the center and potentially a Classe Seventy or another 10 for the rears. You don't really have to stick to ARC, but there's certainly no harm in doing so. You will get a little different sound from the Solid State--I don't think it will matter in the least for the rear channels. For the center you could consider a tube, but for my tastes and movie soundtracks that might be a little overkill (I also have limited faith in really good multi-channel audio, but only time will tell for sure).
Add'l amps for ARC/ML HT System?
I just picked up an entire Martin Logan HT set up--Prodigys, Scripts, and Theatre center channel (off A'gon, to boot). I really wanted the Prodigys, and the rest was kind of gravy. But, now that I have them....
My problem is matching up amps/speakers. I've got a pair of ARC VT-100 Mk IIIs I am currently using to passively bi-amp the Prodigys, with the theatre and scripts are sitting in my study as non-functional art. ML recommends using solid state for the bottom end of the Prodigys, so I suppose I could use the other VT100 for the rears (seems kind of overkill) and look for something like a ARC 100.2 or D200/D240. I like the way the tubes sound with the electrostatics, so I'd probably be looking for some well-matched mono amp for the center, but trying to find a second hand single VTM 200 doesn't seem to be in the cards. Another possibility might be looking for an ARC SDA-1, which would give me, I gather, 4 ch. of solid state, 2 of which could be bridged for the center channel and two of which could be used for the rears or the bottoms of the Prodigys.
Any suggestions? Am a unnecessarily confining myself to ARC? I've assumed, I guess, that I'll get more continuity and consistency buying from the same mfr, but maybe I'm totally off.
The rest of the system, if it matters, is a Theta CB II playing preamp/processor and a Theta David CD/DVD, with a generic VCR. Cables and I/C are Kimber, AGDL/KCAG and Bifocal XL. (Anyone got a spare single run of Bifocal XL or want to split a pair?)
Thanks in advance.
My problem is matching up amps/speakers. I've got a pair of ARC VT-100 Mk IIIs I am currently using to passively bi-amp the Prodigys, with the theatre and scripts are sitting in my study as non-functional art. ML recommends using solid state for the bottom end of the Prodigys, so I suppose I could use the other VT100 for the rears (seems kind of overkill) and look for something like a ARC 100.2 or D200/D240. I like the way the tubes sound with the electrostatics, so I'd probably be looking for some well-matched mono amp for the center, but trying to find a second hand single VTM 200 doesn't seem to be in the cards. Another possibility might be looking for an ARC SDA-1, which would give me, I gather, 4 ch. of solid state, 2 of which could be bridged for the center channel and two of which could be used for the rears or the bottoms of the Prodigys.
Any suggestions? Am a unnecessarily confining myself to ARC? I've assumed, I guess, that I'll get more continuity and consistency buying from the same mfr, but maybe I'm totally off.
The rest of the system, if it matters, is a Theta CB II playing preamp/processor and a Theta David CD/DVD, with a generic VCR. Cables and I/C are Kimber, AGDL/KCAG and Bifocal XL. (Anyone got a spare single run of Bifocal XL or want to split a pair?)
Thanks in advance.