Von Schweikert VR4JR & Tube Amp???


So...without boring you with too much details, I've been FORCED to move my rig into a small dedicated room in my basement. I currently have the above speakers, Marantz SA8260 SACD/CD, Marantz PM7200 (95wpc), Kimber Silver Streak, Audioquest Montblanc & CV-6. My room is only about 12x10 and it's in a corner of my finished basement so, I have two walls that are poured concrete behind the paneling. Obviously, the sound sucks. Since the room is fully enclosed and mine alone, I literally had to surround the room with R-15 Insulation covered with heavy felt moving-blankets and built some baffling in the corners. Ceiling is typical foam drop-ceiling tiles. Floor is carpeted. After some experimentation with speaker placement, I have ACCEPTABLE sound accross most frequencies except the bass (too boomy). Now here's the question: I'm hoping to make the following hardware changes as final adjustments since I might be here for awhile: Replace the PM7200 with a Primaluna Prologue 2 or Manley Stringray and the Audioquest cables with Kimber 8TC. I don't have the experience with or the ability to audition the considered new gear but, what do you wise and insightful folks think???
pawlowski6132

Showing 1 response by ajahu

Unfortunetaly the vr4j got wonderful reviews, but, it has a boomy, sloe and fat bass, and roll offed highs. The best I have heard it was with the Manley Stringay. But only at moderate sound level. At higher level, the music has collapsed. Now, the dealer had a trick to 'calibrate' the vr4j. He half filled a small bottle (like one for medicine) with various small pieces of minerals. That made the sound 'harder', less boomy and gave more sense of top extension. They acted like the well reviewed acoustic resonators, but for nothing. Try it.