Advice on an upgrade


Well, just a little under 3 months ago, I heard a tubed integrated amp (VTL IT85) in my system, and it blew me away. It really altered my reality. I now feel like I'm just starting out on a major exploration, and I'm ready to discover something new.

I'm thinking about selling the VTL IT85, and upgrade to seperates. I live in a condo, and my speakers probably aren't changing soon, as I love electrostats, and don't think there are any other good options vs. my Logan Aerius i. I really like their sound anyway.

ANYWAY, the 80 wpc did fine for me. I think I'd like to find a stereo tube amp, and a nice tube preamp. Balanced outputs/inputs. Something around 100 or 120 wpc I think is fine.

I'm kind of shying away from monoblocks because of their power requirements. I can't add any dedicated circuits to my apartment. Or am I wrong?

Suggestions??

THANKS!

Steve "Dennis" Daigneault
128x128dennis_the_menace

Showing 1 response by asa

1. Get a Supratek Chardonney line stage (sse thread here under "Preamp deal of the century" for $2200. Don't even think about it, just do it.

2. VAC 70/70 - nice piece (Mk I,II or III?). But remember, you are stuck with the VAC-distributed Chinese Golden Dragon 300B's in push pull configuration, so upgrading to WE300B's - which would be great - would be muy expensioso. Instead, if you like VTL, get a 175 Signature with 807 output tubes. These were made at one time, but now are special order. $2200-2400 used. Very nice amps a steal at used price. Saw it easlily driving a pair of hard-to-drive Acoustat 1+1 Electrostats. Hard to find because so good for $, but look with patience.

3. Consider Berning ZH270 amps, singly or bridged. Ask other people about them and you'll see the big response. Hard to find used for that reason.

4. AirTight EL-34 based amp would still be nice.

VTL85 may be forced to use 6550's because of price constraints, but avoid that tube in higher powered amps.