Hi Luke,
I own the V3M, which sits between the V2M and the Volla. After auditioning both the V2M and the V3M extensively, I initially chose the V2M due its nicely balanced sound and the quite lifelike, but not too bright, sound its ribbon tweeter exhibits. In addition, their looks, build quality, size, and the size of my room factored in as well.
When I got home the V2M sounded great; however, in my listening environment, it seemed that the horizontal sweet spot of the tweeter was slightly smaller than I had experienced in the dealers listening room. Thus, I thought the V3Ms larger tweeter would do the trick and, realising my audiophile obsessive/compulsive disorder could not be abated :), the dealer graciously allowed me to swap them for the V3Ms.
Though the V3Ms they sounded great, over time, they seemed a bit too much for the space size-wise (you can see an old picture of them in my home office Second System Sanctuary to get an idea). Loving their sound and not wanting to get rid of the V3Ms, they were later moved to a much larger space in one of my work offices. There, they are paired with an Almarro A318B and are, indeed, sounding lovely. For the space you have (similar to my home office), if you plan on going with the ACs, the V2Ms would work fine. On retrospect, I should have just kept the V2Ms , found the sweet spot and sat still :O!
Re: the ACs and tubes, yes they do work very well together . . . in my opinion, better so than with SS. The ribbon tweeter and woofer integrate seamlessly and the let forth a natural, balanced sound. Accordingly, I would think that McIntosh and AC would be a fine pairing.
Owning some very nice other monitor speakers and hearing literally hundreds of other speakers (very easy to do in Hong Kong), I don't feel the ACs give up that much, if anything, to the others and believe that they represent tremendous value for money. In my opinion, Aurum Cantus is a very, very underrated brand given their terrific sound and stellar build quality. In my opinion, the V2s have to be right up there with some of best looking monitors anywhere - period. To me, the proportions of the V2 are just perfect and better than that of their bigger brother, the V3M. To a person, anybody who sees them must touch them.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Garry
I own the V3M, which sits between the V2M and the Volla. After auditioning both the V2M and the V3M extensively, I initially chose the V2M due its nicely balanced sound and the quite lifelike, but not too bright, sound its ribbon tweeter exhibits. In addition, their looks, build quality, size, and the size of my room factored in as well.
When I got home the V2M sounded great; however, in my listening environment, it seemed that the horizontal sweet spot of the tweeter was slightly smaller than I had experienced in the dealers listening room. Thus, I thought the V3Ms larger tweeter would do the trick and, realising my audiophile obsessive/compulsive disorder could not be abated :), the dealer graciously allowed me to swap them for the V3Ms.
Though the V3Ms they sounded great, over time, they seemed a bit too much for the space size-wise (you can see an old picture of them in my home office Second System Sanctuary to get an idea). Loving their sound and not wanting to get rid of the V3Ms, they were later moved to a much larger space in one of my work offices. There, they are paired with an Almarro A318B and are, indeed, sounding lovely. For the space you have (similar to my home office), if you plan on going with the ACs, the V2Ms would work fine. On retrospect, I should have just kept the V2Ms , found the sweet spot and sat still :O!
Re: the ACs and tubes, yes they do work very well together . . . in my opinion, better so than with SS. The ribbon tweeter and woofer integrate seamlessly and the let forth a natural, balanced sound. Accordingly, I would think that McIntosh and AC would be a fine pairing.
Owning some very nice other monitor speakers and hearing literally hundreds of other speakers (very easy to do in Hong Kong), I don't feel the ACs give up that much, if anything, to the others and believe that they represent tremendous value for money. In my opinion, Aurum Cantus is a very, very underrated brand given their terrific sound and stellar build quality. In my opinion, the V2s have to be right up there with some of best looking monitors anywhere - period. To me, the proportions of the V2 are just perfect and better than that of their bigger brother, the V3M. To a person, anybody who sees them must touch them.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Garry