Description
This system is not complete, but it's more than halfway there...Like the Nucleus RefIII's are not available yet...I will audition them when they are and make my final decision based upon what I hear...But from what I've read and heard, Anthony Gallo does very little wrong when it comes to speaker design...I would also like opinions on interconnects and speaker cable upgrades(though I am an old school audioquest fan)....The V-12's I auditioned for about an hour and was very impressed with key elements it reproduced in certain reference CD's I often use...(i.e. Morphine, Swell, Loreena McKennitt, various Les Claypool efforts,etc...)Unlike the Cary 805's which I wanted so badly to love, but when my ears began attacking my brain with what I would call annoying, dare I say unbearable brightness... I decided to call my eager, yet very helpful audio consultant into the room to switch out the Joseph audio something or other for some Totem something or others...It definitely helped, but in the end, the V-12i's were definitely more suited to my taste...By the way, the V-12's are replacing a pair of Dared VP20's I was intrigued by, and for the price, I could not pass up...I have to give them an honorable mention...The only reason I want to upgrade is because my listening room is huge, and they just don't fill the room like I'd like...But they come damn close...Tonally I think they are amazing...I get sweet mids and highs...I get tight and exceptional bass,(for tubes) that is all balanced and very musical...I switched out the Dared stock 12ax7's and 12au7's for a set of Sovtek and Ei's...And while the soundstage was wider,and more focused and the mids and highs were sweeter, I shortly thereafter switched back to the stock tubes...The Russian and Yugo combo smeered the whole spectrum when faced with more complex and/or dynamic passages...But overall, the VP20 is an excellent amplifier for the price...If the room is 20x15 or smaller, and the rest of the components are up to the task, I think anyone would have to find many things to love about this amp...But anyways, what knowledge or advice do you have to bestowe on the basic system I have laid out here for you audio fanatics????
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