VAC owners, sound off

So I figure I'll just tack onto this thread rather then start a new one. After listening to the pre for about 2 weeks I think I've adjusted to the sound. My impression is that it's, in a word, unremarkable? I find the mids and bass light and lacking. Vocals -- which I think any good pre should do well, are also light and even sound a little boxy and compressed. Presentation is also bit flat. Basically the sound lacks dimensionality and fullness.

Reason I bring these observations up is they seem to fly in the face of the overwhelming kudos to the VAC sound. I'm not hearing it, or at least what I'm hearing isn't what I believe so many people would be raving about.

I do have the unit on brass cones into brass feet, underneath of which are iso-node pods. I do this primarily because the shelves on my custom rack are natural wood and not 100% flat, and the cones are height-adjustable. While the cones also help tighten focus, I do notice that they lighten the mids and bass to a degree (the iso-nodes help counteract that). But I tried the unit on its own feet, with only a slight improvement.

Maybe I'm looking for the wrong things? I listen to hard and classic rock, electronica, some solo acoustic. Maybe this pre sounds better with different music styles. Maybe there's a system dis-synergy. Don't know. At this point I'm ready to put it back up for sale, but thought I'd try here beforehand to see if anyone has any thoughts or troubleshooting ideas.

Tholt, what you describe sounds like a bad match between the VAC pre and
your amplifier (despite assurances otherwise). It doesn't seem to me the sound
you are describing is typical of VAC, nor does it sound like anything that tweaks
will resolve.

Sometimes, you have to accept that the match is not ideal and move on to
another preamp.

Why not try something like the Audio Horizons TP2.1 that can be auditioned
with a 30 day home trial? Listen for an improvement/change versus the VAC.
If there's no definite and immediate change in the sound, then perhaps
something else is amiss in the system.

I surmised the same thing. Outside of impedance matching, is there any other specs to check between pre and amp for compatibility before rolling the dice?

Impedance and gain. Gain will dictate how quickly things get loud in relation to how far you turn your preamp's volume control. Basically, if things get loud with only a quarter turn of the knob, then you have too much gain. Too little gain is almost never an issue.

don't know if that contributed to the issue in this case, but gain was exactly as you described -- loud at about a quarter way or less on the dial. Is there a spec to determine if gain on a pre will match up well with your amp?