Set-Up Advice for Vandersteen 1Cs


I'm beginning to piece together a system and having previously owned a pair of Vendersteen 1Bs back in the late 90's before I sold all my equipment I purchased a pair used 1Cs for $299 and $80 shipping... hopefully this was a good price.

I have a small apartment and these will be in the living room with the TV and I would like the sound from my TV, Cable, Apple TV or Roku 3, Blu-Ray, a DAC connected to my ipad/iphone/macbook pro, and eventually a turntable to be able to play through this system. I plan I have zero interest in a surround sound system, so multichannel is not a concern.

My understanding is that I should probably get an HDMI switch with audio out since things like the Apple TV and Roku 3 don't have audio out and I'll want the audio from those to play through the system. This area is new to me so any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

To complicate things I would LIKE to have a tube amp if possible. I am willing to go solid state, but I would much much prefer tube.

My budget is somewhere in the $500-$750 range. I am planning on buying used equipment to get the most bang for my buck. Something with a phono input would be best, but obviously I can't have everything.

I've been completely out of the loop and this was totally a spur of the moment purchase for me but I don't have a tremendous amount of time or disposable income so I'm looking to greater minds than my own for assistance.
greatwhitebat
Very interesting thread. is that Sketch up you are using? We use that when doing plans for furniture building (woodworking).
The stands came... but they lack the spikes. I can't believe it, but whatever... I'm done fighting with this seller and I'm just going to try to find some replacement spikes. I'll start making calls on that tomorrow... in the mean time they provide some tilt, but no real adjustability.

I do not own a laser level... YET!

I can change the TV bench and make it smaller so I can put the speakers closer together, but moving the couch away from the wall really cuts into the space. I did have the couch set in the room in a different fashion. I am in a 1 bedroom apartment and this is my primary living space other than the bed and bath.

Heavy drapes are going to happen because I know I'll want to cover those windows, and I need the light blocking so I can see the TV better during the daytime anyway... so 2-for-1 win on that count.
Very interesting thread. is that Sketch up you are using? We use that when doing plans for furniture building (woodworking).

I'm using some random free thing I found for mac called Sweet Home 3D

I'm sure there are better things out there... even free. I just wanted something and this had good reviews. I wish it was easier to use and provided more information about placement, but whatever... I could probably spend 100s of hours just messing around with blueprints. I'm a bit obsessive.
Check Amazon if you have a prime account or Partsexpress for spikes. The Vandies probably use a standard thread for their spikes and should be cheap and easy to find.

That seller should be tarred and feathered.
If you have hardwood floors, you can skip the spikes and buy threaded felt-bottomed furniture glides at a hardware store. They're cheap, they save your floors, and the pitch on the threads is the same as for the Vandersteen spikes. I use them for my 1Cis.