How far are your speakers from the front wall?
Tube preamp options
My system from the preamp on consists of a rouge rp-7, rogue m180 monoblocks, and vandersteen quatro wood speakers. My main source is a brinkmann Bardo through a Rogers PA-2 phono pre. It all sounds great. But there's that itch, you know? I get tremendous soundstage but not that much depth. Clarity is great, mids are nice, bass is excellent. But it doesn't quite have that in the room sound that I'm looking for. The RP7 sounded too solid state and analytical for me out of the box with the stock JJ tubes so I've done extensive rolling. Been through all sorts of NOS tubes and landed on amperex as they seem to have the best balance of warmth and clarity. My thought is, maybe I can find a pre that has those attributes out of the gate without all the rolling. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of being able to tailor the sound with trying different tubes but I feel like maybe there's a brand out there who's house sound I like better. I haven't listened to anything more yet but brands that are on the list to check out are Backert labs, maybe a used ARC Ref 6, VTL, VAC. There are a million little boutique brands tho and I'm asking what people have heard in the 10k price range, new or used, that might be a good fit for me and why.
Thanks!
Showing 5 responses by soix
Is that 30” from the front of the speakers or the back? My suggestion would be to try pulling the front of the speakers out at least 48” from the wall and see what happens. My guess is you’ll hear much better depth and an overall improvement, and then keep experimenting from there. The fronts of my speakers are about 6’ from the wall, just for reference. There’s nothing about your system I can see that should limit depth other than speaker placement, FWIW. |
FWIW, when I listened to the Vandersteen 3a at Johnny R’s shop they were at least 6’ and maybe more from the front of the speakers to the back wall. A product that may not only help in moving your speakers but also may improve sound are these gliders from Herbies… https://herbiesaudiolab.com/products/threaded-stud-glider If you haven’t already, try pulling your speakers further out into the room — it’s free and may give you just what you’re looking for. |
If it was me, I wouldn’t bother recalibrating the subs when moving the Quatros further into the room unless you have to. When you move the speakers another foot or two into the room you’ll know immediately if it’s an improvement or not, and if anything the subs will just enhance further that result. I wouldn’t overthink or over complicate it. Just do it and see what happens. I think you’ll be very pleased with the result. And, oh yeah, it’s free! |