I have the same itch ... but I want to try an experiment
I bought an inexpensive ARC VT-60 and put a few bucks into it replacing it's older tired tubes. HOLY COW my Levinson 23.5 has been parked since August. If this little guy sounded so good I couldnt help but think the VT-100 III will drive my next speaker upgrade. Then again ... so many other amps: I looked at the Mac 275 MKIV, Quicksilver V4, I am curious about the VTL mono blocks, Rogue, Cary - the list continues to grow. I guess a lot will depend on the speaker I choose. I was amazed how good an old set of ADS sound with the VT-60 but try an drive something larger and the little guy can only go so far.
I experimented with the Levinson driving the bass/mid drivers of a set of Paradigm Signature S4's and the tubes driving the tweeters. It was a very different ... very interesting sound. I did this little experiment the night before I sold the S4's so I figured what the heck. It was like turbo charging the tube amp. It wasnt all good but I think if Paradigm would have mated the mids and tweeters instead of the mids with the bass driver it would have been even better.
My plan is to go with B&W 802's; power the mid/tweeters with the VT-60 and the bass with the Levinson 23.5. At that point I will either dump that whole idea if it doesnt work for me and get much larger tube mono's or just upgrade the VT-60 to something that matches well with the B&W's. I just like the idea of bi-amping and running a big SS amp to the bass drivers and let the finesse of the tubes work on a less power hungry set of upper frequency drivers. The though of re-tubing something with 4 or more 6550's per side and a bunch of driver tubes every few years is somewhat menacing but I am willing to do it if thats what it takes.
Thoughts?
I bought an inexpensive ARC VT-60 and put a few bucks into it replacing it's older tired tubes. HOLY COW my Levinson 23.5 has been parked since August. If this little guy sounded so good I couldnt help but think the VT-100 III will drive my next speaker upgrade. Then again ... so many other amps: I looked at the Mac 275 MKIV, Quicksilver V4, I am curious about the VTL mono blocks, Rogue, Cary - the list continues to grow. I guess a lot will depend on the speaker I choose. I was amazed how good an old set of ADS sound with the VT-60 but try an drive something larger and the little guy can only go so far.
I experimented with the Levinson driving the bass/mid drivers of a set of Paradigm Signature S4's and the tubes driving the tweeters. It was a very different ... very interesting sound. I did this little experiment the night before I sold the S4's so I figured what the heck. It was like turbo charging the tube amp. It wasnt all good but I think if Paradigm would have mated the mids and tweeters instead of the mids with the bass driver it would have been even better.
My plan is to go with B&W 802's; power the mid/tweeters with the VT-60 and the bass with the Levinson 23.5. At that point I will either dump that whole idea if it doesnt work for me and get much larger tube mono's or just upgrade the VT-60 to something that matches well with the B&W's. I just like the idea of bi-amping and running a big SS amp to the bass drivers and let the finesse of the tubes work on a less power hungry set of upper frequency drivers. The though of re-tubing something with 4 or more 6550's per side and a bunch of driver tubes every few years is somewhat menacing but I am willing to do it if thats what it takes.
Thoughts?