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I'm running Vandersteen 5A's with an Aesthetix Janus and a BAT VK 75SE. I live in an old San Francisco house with wiring from the 1920's - 1927 to be precise - and the wiring in the audio room is not even grounded. The amp/speakers sound breathtakingly beautiful with female vocals, diana krell, opera etc., and with delicate and light tonal passages in classical music. However, large scale orchestal music, only in the crescendos, seem to lose some of their detail and separation between instruments as compared with top notch solid state amps.Will a power conditioner or power cable improve the detail provided by the BAT?
I have a PS Audio 500 but I do not think that will provide enough juice and use it solely for source equipment (MF DM-25 and SONY SACD 9000ES.
I'm thinking a Richard Gray 600s and good power cord. I'm not sure a power cord will improve sound if the original line being the weakest link in the system, is that old. Also, I don't want to choke the amplifier power supply with a bunch of in-line power conditioners or filters.
Anyone with any experience/advice in this?
Follow Ups:
Sounds as if you could use the VK-150SE.
play a recording that is well known for having audible amount of tape hiss inherent in analog tape origins. you might try the fim sacd sampler, track 9.chances are, you'll probably struggle to hear it on a BAT system, but on other non-BAT system, that is easily heard. that might explain the lack of details and separation between instruments. tape hiss hovers around 14kHz region. think of what other important musical details you might be missing out here.
most power conditioner devices and powercords would tend to aggravate this problem even more. they would likely to choke the amplifier power supply leading to more compression on dynamics at higher playback levels - which would further constrict soundstaging.
nt
...and s do I on my VK120's.
Hi, I owned a VK75SE for several years and a couple of weeks ago added a 2nd VVK75 - so now VK150SEs.I agree with you, these are great amps.
I can't comment on power conditioners...so please consider that in my reply.
First, do you own the house? Or if renting, will the owner care? I'd say your biggest bang for the buck has got to be a dedicated line. With a ground! Isolated. To the amp.
2nd, I don't know if I agree with your statement that a power cord won't help. I see where you are coming from, but they have made such huge improvements in my system...
When you say only in large scale orchestral music, only in crescendos...my vote might be your hitting the limits of the single VK75se. And I speak from experience here. I said the same thing regarding my system with a single amp. It's Great... but on complex music, playing more loudly...it closed in some. My dealer solved the issue. My 2nd VK75SE took care of that completely. Plus is just sounds so much better even at low volumes. The VK150SE configuration changes the amps topology. It's not just more power...but better too.
FWIW, I've heard the Avantegarde Trios (substantially more efficient than the Vandys, I believe) each driven by a VK150SEs. The owner of the setup said that he found that using the pair of monoblocs sounded better than just a single 75SE.Except for the fact that I don't like the bass from the avantgarde's built-in self-powered subwoofer (not the amp's fault), I found the sound absolutely stunning.
The owner, by the way, could afford the second amp . . . since he's the guy who makes them.
That would be Victor K himself. Where did you hear his setup?
Thanks.
Thanks.Yes, I do own house, as I bought it before the Amp and speakers. :) I had the equipment running before in another room on new dedicated lines, but it did not make things that much better.
Perhaps two amps would make a difference and I belive at least one reviewer suggested or strongly recommended the 150 SE double amps. Was it in The Absolute Sound review by Sue Kraft? Not sure. But does the detail relally improve? Maybe I can test that out by running both channels of the amp on a single speaker and seeing it works.
Hi, yes, detail substantially improves. Ditto imaging etc. Ditto bass control and dynamics jump. I think, that when you run them in mono block configuration you are running them fully differential to the speaker. The amps balanced...but now one half of the amps pushes, the other half pulls the speaker at the output stage. Anyway, the mono's are much better.I am very suprised you didnt' hear anything with the dedicated lines. Did you isolate the ground and run heavy 20 amp wire? Better plugs to like Porterports? Since the house is old is the breaker box breakers or screw in fuses?
You can test this. BAT makes a kit to do this. Y connector for the input, and jumpers to tie the speaker terminals together. The internal kits sounds slightly better...
Look into BPT - Balanced Power Technology. I have each of my 150 SE monoblocks running off a 3.5 Signature. Big difference. More detail, blacker blacks, etc. The cleanliness of your power or lack thereof can greatly influence your sound.
Have not heard of BPT but they seem to be selling on Audiogon.
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