Vandy's not laid back. I forgot to add that matching the ARC stuff to my Vandy 2C's are anythything but laid back. If you've got muscular, ballsy stuff on the front end, it'll sound stupendous with this combo.
Two examples come to mind. Mercury's old SR with Prokovieff's Love for 3 oranges and Sythian Suite smacks you right in the gut in the lower ranges. I also play a lot of Grateful Dead that come on mere cassette tapes. Amazing how faithful the recreation to concert sound. Rocks great with slamming bass!
Sorry, I'm not much help on what to replace first. I do know that my D-115 II is out now and with my Hillig modified ST 70, I can still get great dynamics, presence, and bass but I have to kick up the preamp a bit more. Still not as good as having both ARC products working though.
Good luck and have fun with your explorations.
Two examples come to mind. Mercury's old SR with Prokovieff's Love for 3 oranges and Sythian Suite smacks you right in the gut in the lower ranges. I also play a lot of Grateful Dead that come on mere cassette tapes. Amazing how faithful the recreation to concert sound. Rocks great with slamming bass!
Sorry, I'm not much help on what to replace first. I do know that my D-115 II is out now and with my Hillig modified ST 70, I can still get great dynamics, presence, and bass but I have to kick up the preamp a bit more. Still not as good as having both ARC products working though.
Good luck and have fun with your explorations.