Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting another VMPS owner in south Tampa - Mike Y. Like me, he has RM40s, and he has owned his for 3.5 years (I've had mine for 4 years). Note that my RM40s are the only pair I had heard before, although I have had a couple of get-togethers at an RM2 owner's home. However, I have tried numerous solid-state amps (and two solid-state preamps) in my system, and had taken the time to re-tweak the speakers to try to wring the best performance from them. From these trials, I had come away with the impression that the more tubes in the signal path, the better.
Note my signal path is turntable ---> tube preamp ---> tube monoblocks
Mike's signal path is Toshiba DVD transport ---> KORA tube DAC ---> Sonic Frontiers tube preamp ---> Audire Audio power amp
My impressions:
Bass: Mike's system had the double winner in comparison to mine - "more bass" plus "better bass". Nice big room combined with subwoofer and equalization device makes for a winning combination. Granted, Mike has the bass turned up stronger than I prefer, but he has the ability adjust it to where it would appeal to almost any listener. Wisely, he sets it to his preferences - not mine.
In my system, the interactions between my room and my bass output has the ability to produce "sonic nasties" at certain frequencies. And unlike Mike's system, my bass cannot be improved without introducing a change to my system/room.
Mids: On Mike's system, the midrange on modern CDs was a little forward and bright (not extremely so). Electronic music would not be a good fit at all (fortunately, Mike doesn't listen to this genre). In addition, on complex musical passages, instruments had a tendency to blur together somewhat. Note that on simpler arrangements, the mids were buttery smooth. And since Mike prefers small Jazz combos and Country, this will seldom (if ever) rear its head.
In my system, the strongest suit is dynamics - both micro-dynamics and macro-dynamics. Drums and percussion really shine - not to mention having the percussive capabilities of other instruments brought out (piano, Stevie Ray's guitar playing, etc). While Mike's system is maybe not as aggressive as mine, it certainly isn't a limitation.
Highs: On Mike's system, certain tracks brought out a shrillness beyond what I've heard on other systems (not just mine). Some of this is Mike's preference/settings, and I think could be minimized with adjustments to the potentiometer settings. Again, Mike wisely tunes his speakers to his ear - not mine. Mike also mentioned this is more of an issue with his current power amp, which is being forced into service because his primary monoblocks (also Audire Audio) are out of action. He stated that when everything is up and running, this shrillness is minimized.
Overall: I was pleasantly surprised with Mike's system. It was considerably better than I had prepared myself for. From my experiences, solid-state amps are not desirable on VMPS speakers, and I arrived expecting the worst. But perhaps a combination of a high-quality tubed DAC plus a high-quality tubed preamp help minimize the solid-state problems I have heard in the past on other VMPS speakers.
Bass equalization combined with a nice big room provides potential for great sound. And it's possible that the few things that I found lacking could be "tweaked" away by adjusting the speakers to fit my preferences - not Mike's. Turn the bass down some; put the "better" amps back in the mix; adjust the potentiometers? It could have been right up my alley.
Most importantly, I discovered that the similarities in our systems far outweighed the differences - with the most apparent difference being in Mike's favor: the ability to control the bass and integrate it into his room.
Kevin
