Re: VSM-M with stingray - andy12 09:46:47 09/09/05 (3)
 Re: VSM-M with stingray - Rich Brkich 07:26:06 09/12/05 (2)
 Re: VSM-M with stingray - andy12 11:17:29 09/19/05 (1)
 Speaker cables are defeintely a problem... - Rich Brkich 08:55:23 09/21/05 (0)
 Re: VSM-M with stingray - Rich Brkich 08:13:18 08/03/05 (2)
 Re: VSM-M with stingray - andy12 19:13:25 08/05/05 (1)
 Re: VSM-M with stingray - Rich Brkich 21:13:10 08/10/05 (0)

I havent visited your forum for a while, busy listening and moving the speaker around.
here is the setup

The speaker are placed 6 feet from the front wall, 3.46 feet from the side wall, the middle part between the tweeter and the woofer to the floor is 3 feet. The speaker are placed on a metal stand very heavy about 30kg

Listening position is 15 feet from the front wall.

Room size is width 14.6 ft x length 22.5ft x height 4ft

The speaker cable is single wired, silveraudio symphony48
Interconnect JPS superconductor2, I’m using the RC network
Our house is not grounded, and not using any power conditioning

TIA for your help
warm regards

My inital inkling is that the speaker cables are possibly a significant problem.

If everything is directly plugged into the wall, some basic power conditioning and/or power cords can make a significant imporvement.

It sounds like the speakers are about 7.5 feet or maybe a little more apart. If so, I would try either moviung them a little coser to the wall behind them and/or a little closer together (about 6.5ft center to center).

One last question... what is the source (CD player? Brand/model?)

That is all I can think of right now. If the room ois really live sounding (sparsely furnished, large bare walls.... i.e. nothing in the room or on the wall to absorb and difuse some mid/treble info... this energy is going to be contained in the room with little dissapation leaving the speakers sounding somewhat lean no matter where you put them and things like cables will be very important in getting this to sound right)

Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison

the cd player is audio analogue puccini, old model, the speaker cable is 9awg solid core silver, www.silveraudio.com, thanks for all the help

Ideally, a single wire run of Cardas Golden Reference is the best (also quite expensive, but not grossly more expensive than the cables you have). If your speaker cable runs are not too long (around 3m or less), excellent alternatives are Cardas SE-9, SE-11, Neutral Ref single wire, or Audience Au24 single wire.

This will not be a small difference... the VSM-Ms will clearly show up the difference between cables... the speaker in general, work best with copper based stranded wire designs.

Some other thoughts:

If you stingray is configured in Ultralinear mode and not switchable between triode and Ultalinear, I woul suggest sedning the amp to Manley lbas and have them add the triode/Ultralinaer switch option to your unit (cost around $250 - $300 I think).... In triode mode the Stingray is fuller and sweeter and still quite punchy...though you loose some power in this mode you will find the combo to be allot of fun and very musical.

Get some similar interconnects to go along with the speaker cables I suggested.... Some Audience Au24 or some pairs of Cardas Golden Ref if you can afford it will get things sounding more connected and balanced.

Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison

As to a SET amps on VSMs.... they can do many nice things: Large palpable stage and imaging, wonderful body and tone when done right. (I do not sell any currently, but I think the Wavelength Audio are some of the best out there... I find certain WAVAC and old Audio Note units sound pretty nice). Though many can and do live with them happily, I do not think they are the ultimate solution for the VSMs though... for me OTLs are the ticket. They delivery the power, dyanamics, nauace, purity of tone etc etc that can really show what the VSMs are capable of.

Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison

i replaced the stingray driver tube to telefunken, sounds better.

but the OTL amp is very expensive, will $3500 enough for a OTL? and are they dangerous? someone told me that OTL sometime will give dc current to speaker cable.

regards
Andy

Sorry for taking so long to responed to your post here.

First a quick note about OTLs... modern day OTLs are very reliable and do not destroy speakers or send DC down to them. All the modern day designs that I have seen that are currently in production are designed so that fuses or other protection methods will trip to prevent damage to speakers should a failure occur. Unless you try break a tube and stick you fingers into the powered exposed open tube elements, these amps are not dangerous.

I need to get some facts from you about your set-up before making any futher reccomendations:

1) Room set-up. I will need to know where the speakers are placed, what kind of stands they are on, size of the room, where the listening position is.

2) Your gear should work quite well with the speakers, but I do have my concerns about the speaker cables and interconnects in use. Are the speakers single wired? Are you using the RC networks? Are you using any kind of power conditioning or power cords with the gear? If so, what kinds?

Once I get a more complete picture of what is happening, we can figure out what is happening and get things sounding much better! :-)

Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison