This system works as a great two channel, multichannel audio or home theater system. My overall emphasis is on two channel playback, however. The Wilsons are amazingly quick and dynamic. They are a tremendous improvement over the Thiel CS 1.6s that they replaced (and are now relegated to the back of the room as surrounds). The Wilsons have great synergy with the VTLs, and every upgrade makes them more articulate and transparent. Even with my all tube setup, I am very happy with the bass impact. After adding the VTL 5.5, the mid and low bass became more visceral and is better integrated with the whole. This pre-amp also added a tremendous amount of depth and coherence to the soundstage.
The VTL ST-150 provides more than enough power for this system and my room, which is relatively large with cathedral ceilings and an opening into the kitchen. It also has the delicacy for subtle chamber music. I find that both the tetrode mode (170 watts/channel) and the triode mode (90 watts/channel) can easily drive the speakers. Check out the home made room treatments behind the listening position. I glued 1" thick batting to the wall then covered it with fabric. The improvements were immediate and greatly reduced the sense of "echo" in the room.
A great part about this setup as a whole is that is can double as a home theater or can be used during the day without lots of wasteful hours running my tubes. The Thiel center and surrounds run off the Rotel receiver and can be used for casual TV watching or music during the day. At night or during dedicated listening I turn on the tubes to let the full potential flow.
The McCormack is a great CD, and high resolution format player. I can run it directly to the pre-amp and also to the Rotel. The VTL 5.5 also has a home theater bypass switch if I want to use the Rotel as a pre-amp to play movies. I actually find that with movies that I still prefer to send the mains directly through the VTL pre-amp and let the Rotel only take care of the rears and sub. (I do not run the Thiel SCS center during movies, only during casual listening). Of course by running it that way I have two volume controls, one for the fronts and one for the rears/sub. However, the VTL 5.5 adds a great sense of realism to movies that is hard to live without. As for now I do not run the subwoofer out of the VTL 5.5 for two channel music. I only use the sub for movies.
It may heresy to post my Polk XM receiver on this sight, but you have to hear how well it integrates into the system. Of course it can never replace any good CD player; however it is remarkably musical and natural. The breadth of programming is staggering. I listen to a lot of classical and jazz and I do not find the signal too "compressed" to detract much from the music. It seems that some of the channels on XM are better than others. It is a pleasure listening to hours of music with such great variety. I have wondered what it would sound like to add a stand-alone DAC to the Polk to see how it may improve the sound.... Any thoughts?
Any comments or questions about the system are appreciated.
System edited: I have added the Mapleshade rack with great results. I do not think that I could have pulled out all the great attributes of my system without this (or a similar high quality rack) upgrage. Every thing just sounds more fleshed out from every source component. I has outstanding build quality. The Belcant DAC was added (about 6 months ago) to upsample the digital signal from the Polk XM radio. Additionally I added Kimber Kable TAK (silver) interconnects for the TT. Good sonic results, but not quite the decrease in RF noise I had hoped for. These cables are heavily shielded. I bought these on recommendation by Mike at VPI. At this point, I am thinking much more about protecting my system. I am planning on adding lightning protection with lightning rods (12 inch high) and a breaker before all the elctrical, phones and sattelite. I am also considering options on high quality power distribution such as shunyata hyrda, transparent, or sound application. I have put some new pictures of the room changes.
System edited: I have made a significant update to the system by adding an analog front end. I have added a VPI Scoutmaster TT with the JMW 9 tonearm along with the dynavector 17D2 Karat cartridge (with extra headshell weight). During the update I had to send my VTL pre-amp back to the manufacturer to have a phono stage added it. I sure did miss the pre-amp while it was gone. I have had the TT setup for about 4 days now and my first impressions are very positive. I now understand what is the big deal about vinyl. Before the cartridge has even broken in I am amazed at the "realness" of the instrumenation. The sounds stage is tremendously deep compared to my digital front end. It also handles complex orchestral passages wonderfully. I still have alot of tweaking to do, and I have a custom Mapleshade rack coming with a 4" block at the top to mount the turntable. When the setup is complete I will post pictures. I am starting to build a library of records and have about 40 or so. I will post more thoughts on the system after I have more time with the new additions. Musictime
I do not use the sub for music. I have relegated it to HT use only (which it performs great). I tried to integrate it into my two channel system just to see what it sounded like. I did this both through the Rotel and also tried a setup using the second set of outputs on the VTL pre-amp. The sub does add some extra "loudness", but that overshadows the mirodynamic details of the Sophias. Without the sub, the Sophias do a remarkable job (for their relatively small size) with very deep, strong bass response. I am planning on adding brass footers under the sub which may tighten up the sound but I doubt I will change my mind about integrating the sub in to the two channel system.
The front of the tweeters are about 3 1/2 feet from the back wall with the closest part of the speaker (on the back of the speaker) being two feet from the back wall. The speakers are essentially completely towed in to the center of the couch. The speakers are 10 feet apart (measured to the middle of the woofers) and the center of the couch is 11 feet from each speaker.
As I posted before the positioning was very important. My dealer (who drove 4 hours each way to come and help set them up) and I took about 4 hours to complete the whole process of placement. The proccess that Wilson describes for setting them up would work for any speaker and really shows how your room acoustics interacts with the speakers. The final position you see in the pictures was actually my second favorite positiion. However, the best postion placed the speakers further apart and they intruded too much on the walk ways into the other rooms. That placement produced a remarkably large soundstage, but sometimes you need to be practical.
My optimal listening is obviously in the center of the couch and the soundstage is anchored very well in the center until you get to the edges of the couch when the sound tends to be localized to the closer speaker. The distance from the speakers from front to back does not seem to make as much of the differnce as it did when I was using the Thiels.
Musictime, How far are your speakers out from the walls? How far are the spaekers apart? How far are you seating from the speakers for optimal listening?
Musictime, Thank you for the candid response on the cables. I also agree with you on speaker placement...the heavy curtains are helping to soften the glass windows as well as the bronze urn to minimize corner loading effect. I will consider a bigger rug.
Thanks for your response. My wife would like your comment on the decor. We actually just "finished off" the room last week after adding a saxaphone and violin as decorative pieces up on the shelf above the system. It adds a great last touch, especially given out taste in music. I'll put some pictures up soon.
As for the cables, well that was one that I just trusted my dealer. I replaced my older cables with the transparent cables based on his advice and the "known" synergy between Wilson and transparent. I bought the cables here on audiogon and have been very happy with them. My setup makes A/B swapping of interconnects very difficult. I do not have first hand experience with Purist, siltech or nordost and wouldn't presume to tell you mine are the best choice. The cables have made overall small but audible differences, lowering the noise floor, etc....
Looking at your room (which is beautiful) I would expect the room interactions (wood floors, large window, speakers being close the walls, etc) makes a much bigger impact on your overall tone and bass response than cables will make. Good luck.
I just looked over your system, and wow is all I can say. The megalines have always intrigued me. How do they sound different than a conventional dynamic speaker such as the wilsons?
Every speaker has a personality and ultimately each person must decide on which set of trade offs are preferable. Unlike some at this site, I don't dislike Wilsons. In fact, I have heard them sound EXCELLENT, it's all about set up, associated equipment and the room.
I choose Dali Megalines because I was accustomed to a huge sound stage and no crossover. My previous speakers were Sound-Lab Ultimate Ones and they are so sweet, phase accurate and musical it's a tough act to follow.
The Dali Megaline has only one crossover point (worse than none but better than three or five :^).
The Dali's were exceptionally long in breaking in, but I must say now I am completely satisfied and not looking for alternatives. As for sound difference between them and Wilson, difficult to cage but I would say the Dali Ribbon is softer sounding and dynamics equal to Wilsons up to (but not including) the big ones. I'm not sure anything hits as hard as the big Wilsons, one of their really fun and attractive attributes.
Thank you for your kind words. I just looked over your system, and wow is all I can say. The megalines have always intrigued me. How do they sound different than a conventional dynamic speaker such as the wilsons?
As for how the Wilson's sound with VTLs... The VTLs really benefit from the lack of dynamic resrictions of the Wilsons. When comparing the sound of the VTLs on the Wilson to the Thiels, there is more immediacy and rush of sound that makes tubes sound so lifelike. This sensation is much better heard and felt on the Wilsons. The Thiels have a kind of electronic haze that seems to take away from those microtextures of the VTLs
Your advice for my 2 year old has been well headed since she was born. I am glad it works for you...
Good grief, your system and room are stunningly beautiful !
I always wanted to hear Wilson's powered with VTL tube amps. Congratulations on all your hard work, my only advice is for you place your 2 year old in your lap, hug them and share the joy of listening.
I did that with my son (who is now 19), and we are best friends as well as the sharing the normal Father and Son relationship.
Hi, Gelmhirst. Thanks for your complement. I actually have owned both the VTL ST-85 and the VTL ST-150. To call my bass "lush or sloppy" would be completely innacurrate. I actually feel that the bass response in my room (and its pretty big as you can see from the pics) is very stong and solid. I am always surprised how deep the sophia's can go. I used both amps on the Sophias and was very pleased.
Changing from the ST-85 to the ST-150 produced interesting changes. The bass from the ST-85 was very strong but did sound a little "tubey (lush as you may call it?)". The mid bass was excellent, but the lower octave did not have amazing slam. When I changed to the ST-150, the mid and lower bass became much more evened out and neutral. The bass sounded more like an excellent solid state amplifier (I have not used one in this particular system, so I am conjecturing). When I added the VTL 5.5 pre-amp the bass was dramatically improved in its visceral impact but did not over-emphasize it compared to the mids or highs.
Interestingly, I still miss the sweetness of the ST-85 midrange compared to the ST-150 (I chaulk this up to the difference of EL34's in the output stage of the ST-85 versus the ugragraded KT-88's in the ST-150). However, again I feel that the ST-150 is more neutral in the mids and has better extension in the treble.
Looking at your system, I would expect that the the ST-150 should be able to power your speakers without any problem.
Hi Musictime. I love your VTL/Wilson set up. It must sound fantastic. I am interested in the VTL ST150 as one of my next upgrades. BUT I have heard folks suggest the bass can sound too lush, sloppy in fact. I do not believe this entirely. I am dismissing it as poor speaker/cabling matching etc. My question: the Wilsons remained tight sounding then? I have to ask. Once I go full tubes, Wilsons are on my short list.
Yeah, actually the space behind the door on the left is my 2 1/2 year olds play room and the space behind the sophia on the right is the way to her bedroom. Thats the only thing about the layout of my house that could be better. I actually had the sophia's slightly closer together originally to reduce such an accident. However, when the dealer came over to set them up, the soundstage was MUCH larger by moving them to their current location. It is amazing how a couple of inches front/back or side/side makes a huge difference in overall tone and soundstage.
I actually called wilson audio before buying the speakers to discuss with them about issues of speaker damage. And as per my 2 1/2 year old... I'll keep my medical policy up to date.
Very nice set up. Wilson and VTL seem to have special synergy. One question about that door behind the left Sophia - is that a closet or something with regular thrutraffic? I'd hate to see someone barge into the Sophia...
