More on the VR4seIII

Sorry, I did re-read your post about the age of the speakers, then I revised my post and deleted the question.

My tube amp is able to easily drive the VR4 Gen III HSE speakers with lots of room to spare on the volume pot. Although your room is almost twice as big as mine. If you're looking to fill your room with heavy metal music at "live" volume, then you may require some more power. I don't know. I still maintain that your imaging issues are a product of speaker placement and not amplification quantity or quality.

Based on your room size, it would seem like about 6 feet from the back wall would be a good starting point. Do your speakers and listening chair form an equilateral triangle? This is key in my experience. How about toe-in? Adjustments of just half an inch make a significant impact. Start by pointing the speakers directly at the listening chair and slowly rotate them out a few degrees. You should find a point at which the image locks in and floats just as you describe. Sorry to hit on the placement issue so hard, but I don't believe your amplification is the problem. Sure, a better and more powerful amp will help the dynamics, but it won't help imaging in my opinion. Certainly to the degree you are describing. Member "Jtinn" sells Von Schweikert and has helped me in the past with set-up issues. He'd be a good resource. You can do a member search and send him an e-mail.

Good luck. Even though it's hard to resist, try to lock in your speaker and listening positions before you start dropping coin on new electronics.

Just a note on power. The VR4 Gen III speakers are rated 89db/1 watt/1 meter. They produce 89db measured at 1 meter from the speakers with just 1 watt of power. Each doubling of power results in 3 db of volume gain, e.g. 2 watts produces 92 db. My room is loud at 96db...only about 6 watts of power. Keep in mind that I used to play drums in hard rock bands, and my definition of loud is based on that real world experience. Only 64 watts produces an ear splitting 107db. So, you see what I mean about power not necessarily being a problem for you. At 150watts, the Belles 150A should provide plenty of what you need.

Sounds like some good advice, and I appreciate it. I know its there with these speakers and Im even haveing fun with them trying to find it. If you dont mind what pre-amps have you been useing with yours? Im already starting to think that I dont have mine far enough off the back wall. Anyway, happy listening.

Generally, if you divide the length of your room into thirds or sixths, this
is where you should start. For example, you said your room is about 35
feet long. Let's assume 36 feet to make the math easier. 1/3 of 36 is
12, 1/6 of 36 is 6...so this is where I came up with the 6 feet from the
back wall. The speakers should be more than six feet or less than six
feet from the side walls. If you had them 4 1/2 feet from the side walls,
this would leave 16 feet betweeen speakers. You could then put your
listening chair 16 feet from the speakers and have your equilateral
triangle. I haven't done the math here for optimum side wall placement
and listening chair position, but it's a start.

I've used a First Sound Presence Deluxe II preamp with both the Bryston
and VAC Phi 110/110. Prior to that I used a Bryston BP-25. The First
Sound was a significant improvement.

Robert Harley's "Complete Guide to High End Audio" has an
excellent chapter on determining speaker placement. Plus, it's full of
other outstanding information. Highly recommended.

I initially ran my VR4's with an Aragon 8008bb on the bottom and Manley Neo-Classic 250 monoblock tube amps on the top.

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BI-AMP THESE SPEAKERS!

I now run them with Parasound Halo JC-1's (bi-wired) and an ARC LS25 mk1 with XLR IC's between the pre and amps (XLR connection with these amps is absolutely essential).

This combo is a much better setup than the bi-amp scenario, IMO.