I've been pretty busy the past two days and really haven't had time to post, that said, here are some impressions.
First, I want to thank Phil Bamberg for making these available, especially to a crowd who might be a tough sell.
Very nice to meet both Al and Phil, both very knowledgeable and genuinely nice guys. A pleasure.
My speakers are Vandy 3A signatures, which I doubt anyone would describe as forward or aggressive. As I've gotten older my tolerance for aggressive or overly forward sound has diminished and my system is geared for my tastes and is pretty laid back. Please take this perspective into account when reading my comments.
BESL Series 2 MTWith the BESL series 2 in their original configuration with the tweeters on the outside I found them too forward and aggressive for my taste. I was only in the sweet spot for 1 song and I felt I was missing some of the harmonic richness I'm used to hearing from this track (Dizzy Gillespie - Swing Low Sweet Cadillac (Tyson was shuddering. Hah!)) and it was just too bright and forward for my tastes. I found this interesting since the same combination of gear with the 3A's is quite detailed but still laid back. I was surprised at how different the presentation was.
Once the BESL speakers were swapped and the tweeters were on the inside I found the sound much more agreeable to my tastes. I wasn't in the sweet spot so I cannot comment on the imaging but from what others said it was much improved. Overall I still found it a little hard for my taste but it was much closer to what I prefer.
Aurum CantusWith the Aurum Cantus (again from outside the sweet spot) I found them much more relaxed sounding than the BESL but the bass seemed weaker than I thought it should be. I would have liked to hear these without the socks in the ports, running full range and with the subs off. I can't comment at all on the imaging or soundstage since I wasn't ever in the sweet spot. My guess is that these would quite good with some tube amps and in a smaller room.
VMPS 626RI've heard these many times but not in my system. Once Tyson had them adjusted I preferred the sound of the 626's over both the BESL and Aurum Cantus. I am not a big VMPS fan but the overall sound of the 626's in the system on this day was very good. They also integrated with the subs much better than either of the other two. Note we did no tinkering with the subs other than measure the levels to make sure they were equal to the speakers through the crossover point. All of the speakers were close enough in efficiency that we didn't have to change them. I'm pretty sure that some tweaking of the "Q" and level would have resulted in substantially better sound but we just didn't have the time.
As far as the system, it's pretty much as described in the link below. A much modified Denon 2900, a DIY preamp using a 6SN7 gain stage, a pair of Odyssey Extreme mono amps, DIY IC's, BOLDER Summit IC's between the preamp and amps and 2 pair of 12GA flat braid to the speakers. My room is 24 x 14 and 16 ft. high for most of it's length. Quite a bit of volume to fill.
Mike
