Vandersteen 5


Hi over the weekend I purchased a set up Vandertseen 5's and a McCormack DNA 225. I have a few questions about the 5's and was hoping someone here could help me. I can't seem to get the bass on either speaker on the 5's to work. The mids and the high's sound great.

1.) I've connected the M5-HP high pass filters between my preamp (a rotel RSX-1550) using RCA to XLR cable (the high-pass is XLR) and XLR to the McCormack amp (which was upgraded to platinum and has both XLR and RCA inputs). Is the lack of bass because I'm using a cable to convert RCA to XLR to connect to the M5-HP high pass filters ? I've looked on the vandersteen site and saw opposing answers from Richard. If not that what else could be wrong with the subs? 

2.) would anyone here want to trade a my XLR M5-HP high pass filters for an RCA one? I'm in the bay area

3.) The speakers were missing the spikes. Does anyone the size. I'd like to order a generic set as vandersteen wants 22 per spike. 

4.) Anything else I should know? My prior speskers were 2CE sigs so I jumped when I saw the 5's for sale. 
128x128mzwerner

Showing 4 responses by gdnrbob

As you are on the West Coast, why not contact Vandersteen directly?
If you call in, Mr. V will call you back the following day. Just have all your questions ready, as he can be a bit abrupt.
You can also ask John Rutan (his Audiogon name is audioconnection). PM him and ask away.
Call SMcAudio to find out what the correct impedance for the amp is.
Pat and Steve upgraded my DNA-1 to monoblocks and the new power supplies are in the 33 ohm range, so I, too, wasn’t getting a proper bass output. As the balanced M5’s only go to 20 ohm, you might need to get the RCA version which goes down a bit further. But, I would wait until you get all the details.
Also, your cable might be a source of problem. Rather than use that cable, I would buy a Jensen Transformer to convert the RCA to Balanced. They cost about $250 but will do the job properly.
Bob
Oh nuts, 10K is really low and I believe the Balanced crossovers only go to 20K ohms. (Oddly, I am in the same situation with my DNA-1's). 
I think you may have to move to either an unbalanced M5-HP in order to get to 5 or 10K ohms.
I would first try the balanced crossover at it's lowest setting and see if it sounds good.
Bob
The guy who sold you the equipment gave you some nice stuff.
I say try both cables and see which one you like. And, give things time to settle in before making upgrades.-You won't be able to tell what makes a difference until you know what your system sounds like.
Re: the Rotel,
I have no idea what a home theater amp does or doesn't do, as I am a 2 channel guy. I can only say give it a try and see what you think.
B
@tomic601 ,
what happens when the batteries go?
I thought I remembered Mr. V. saying it wasn't something that would very noticeable.
Bob