Hello Everyone,
I am hoping tomorrow is a fun day as I drive up to Ft. Collins to listen to the VTL, D'Agostino and ARC. I also hope to stop in Wheat Ridge on the way to hear the Ayre that was also recommended.
JWM, thanks for the warning about the Altair 2's not doing great with tubes. I have heard, although I may be wrong, that the Altair and the Arrakis were very hard to drive and needed a lot of SS power, although they are supposed to be magical sounding. The Rockport Cygnus and smaller speakers (like the Aviors) i have heard are less demanding (also produce a smaller sound stage). I will let you know what I think after hearing the various SS and tube amps on the speakers at my house.
Knghifi, thanks for putting me in touch with Philb7777; I sent him a message and he responded, and he thought that a bigger need than an amp upgrade was a preamp upgrade. He says he loves his ARC REF 5SE driving his 250's with his Rockports. While I was intending to upgrade both, I appreciated him suggesting that the bigger need may be the preamp and that I may get a much bigger soundstage just by upgrading the preamp.
GPGR4blu, thanks also for the suggestion on the D'Agostino amp with an ARC pre-amp. It reminded me that someone at RMAF had said something similar and I had totally forgotten. This gives me one more good combo to think about and test out -- could be an amazing sound.
Thanks everyone, and I'll give my first update after this weekend, but I think the best update will come after I've had a chance to test the gear on the speakers in my house. so far, it looks like I should be able to listen, at my house after I get my speakers, to a used pair of ARC REF 250's (the dealer up in Ft. Collins has a traded in pair), a pair of the ARC 250 SE's, the VTL's, the D'Agostino, and the Ayre, all from local dealers, and I may pay to have the Pass Labs shipped to test them too. I was surprised at how friendly the dealers were and that they offered to bring the gear over to my house and let me test it.
Again, thank you to everyone for your suggestions and taking the time to respond to the post. I know many of you have a wealth of knowledge and experience with hi-fi; I unfortunately do not, so these forums really help educate me and lead me in a good direction for my purchase.
Thank you, Larry