Experiences, good and bad, with VTL

I heard the 750 and the Wotan. The 750 was at a friends home in California. He was with Fi magazine before it went under. He had a very good system, Rockport turntable with Koetsu running into a Jadis pre, driving Soundlab M-1's.

The friend that used two pair of VTL's was a reviewer for Absolute Sound. We have spent enough time with each other to know what each hears and likes.

His combo of VTL 750 plus VTL Wotan bi amping the big Magneplaners was absolutely state of the art. He was using Purist and Cardas cable, Basis turntable with Graham arm, Aesthetix Io and Callisto phono and preamp.

Having owned many tube amps myself, my experience is that overall they are higher maintenance than equivalent transistor models. They deliver more music and therefore make up for the effort in my opinion.

The VTL delivers great sound. Two years ago I considered the VTL 750 for myself. This was to drive my Soundlab Ultimates. It turned out to be such a bad year financially that I could not afford them and instead bought Wolcotts Presence 220.

Still, It would be nice to do an A-B comparison in my own home, even though the Wolcott is delivering the best sound I have had to date.

I never want to hear a system like that Albert, 'cause i have a feeling it would be an incredibly impossible-to-pay-for act to follow. I have a pair of lowly VTL MB185 and I'm extreamly happy with them. Last year they survived a near lightning hit, plugged directly into the wall, with only a couple of tubes and fuses to show for it. Luck or durability?? One amp had an intermittant hum that came about when it was left idling for a long period of time. Toggle the power switch on either amp or the pre and it would go away. The VTL folks tried their best to help me diagnose it over the phone...it wasn't worth sending in till it failed we figured. It hasn't re-occurred in about 6 mo so who knows what was up there since i didn't change anything. The point of all that was the amps aren't perfect but the VTL people are very helpful. Bee, the person you would probably deal with in customer support, is pretty busy and it may take a bit to get through to her. I'm on my 3rd year with the tubes and they are starting to go a bit soft. The system is on probably about 20 hrs/wk ave.

As to the first poster who recommended ARC, CJ and Mac., I don't think here has spent much time with tube amps. THe ARC may be worth a listen though i though they were the most solid statey of the bunch, VTL included. The VTL had better mids and maybe a bit softer highs than the ARC VT100 II. I also use a 5.5 pre-amp and the sound from my system is dynamic, quite open and 3-d. The bass is nicely controlled though i do wish there was more (room? speakers??{dunlavy athenas} bigger amp?) The switchable triode/tetrode on the VTL is a nice feature. I'm finding myself wanting a big triode amp more and more each day.

The CJ gear i listened to was mushy in comparison...what anti tube folks talk about i would guess. I don't remember the model numbers. I also listened to a high end Mac set up through a pair of 801 nautilus speakers. something was really not working there either...enough so that i quit looking at either of those products. I can't imagine not loving a pair of 750's. if you buy them and don't like them i'd be glad to accept them as a donation

Hi,

I own a pair of MB-100s and have been very happy with them. They power my Celestion SL700s with no problems. They have decent bass, a bit forward mid(but still very nice because my speakers are slightly too mellow) and nice upper end. For the money they are great. I have owned them for two years and have absolutely no problems with them.

Good luck with your search.

update i just put in some brimar 12AT7 black plate tubes made in 1958 they are a better than 1970's mullard box plate and about equal to but different than my telfunken right now i love em but will go back to the tele's to see if they really are better will post a follow up

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