2. amps-preamps
  3. 1109994264

Any fellow VAC Phi 220 owners out there? Thoughts?

I am absolutely thrilled with my VAC Phi 220 monoblocks and was just wondering if any other Phi owners out here share my enthusiasm? These are the best sounding (by far) power amplifiers I have ever heard in my system, and I think one of the best amplifiers I have heard period.

The Phi 220s really do it all with my Vandy 5As, but the midrange and treble reproduction are a cut above any other amplifier I've had in my system. It is the first time I feel like I'm listening to pure music and not an audio system. It's emotional, engaging, and just sounds "right". The 5As simply disappear like never before and are extremely capable of revealing just how good the 220s are.

Sorry if I'm "over the top" with my comments on these, but VAC nailed it with these amps!

Vandertseen Model 5A- Bird's Eye Maple
VAC Phi 220 monoblock amplifiers
EMM Labs DCC2 DAC/preamp
EMM Labs CDSD- SACD/CD transport
Audioquest Sky 72V DBS XLR interconnects
Audioquest Kilimanjaro 72V shotgun biwire speaker cables
Silent Source AC power cords
Custom Power Cord Co. Model 11 Plus for 5A subs
BPT 3.5 Signature Plus balanced line conditioner
Critical Mass Systems platforms for EMM and BPT
Sistrum SP-101 platforms for VAC Phi 220s
fsarc

Showing 4 responses by scotty333

scotty333
79 posts
 
Tvad, I owned the phi 110 and the ren 70/70's - while the negative feedback may 'tighten' the high frequencies, I lost some of the air and what I would call presence with negative feedback. Sometimes it was even recording dependent. I am not sure what to tell you or recommend. I know in speaking to Kevin he will tell you its system dependent. Perhaps you have some A/C line noise on the digital side? Also, the more 'noise' I have removed from my system the cleaner the high end gets and no need for negative feedback.

Another idea is the sistrum stand as it helped the treble quite a bit. Less grunge. I am not sure but tubes can be microphonic and perhaps the sistrum stand is eliminating/reducing the microphonics in the tubes, thus creating better highs...

Personally, I prefer a pre-amp for the dynamics/headroom...but going direct has its advantages and some mfrs are better at the analog outputs on digital gear these days...

You could go with a phi beta integrated :), like I did and forget about a seperate preamp and negative feedback!

Good luck. Let us know how it goes....
scotty333
79 posts
 
I recently purchased the PHI BETA 110 (sold the Phi stand alone 110 (which was fantastic in its own right, and VAC Ren preamp) - The integrated is unbelievable - control of solid state, magic of tubes. Dynamic, transparent, musical, you name it. The PHI line is Kevin's best work yet....and I am stumped as to how he will even better it!

All of VAC's stuff in incredibly musical. By the way, Kevin personally listens to product before it is shipped, WOW. How is that for personal service.

The word needs to get out on this PHI stuff, it's that good.
scotty333
79 posts
 
The Sonoran power cord is an excellent match for the PHI. Very musical with terrific bass extension.
scotty333
79 posts
 
Tvad,glad you figured it out. I hope the adaptors work really well for you. I know on the 70/70 you could dial in the feedback, but on the 110 am not sure how much flexibility there is. It sounds like you are down to some really fine tuning of your system.

Do you use the RAL power cables as Fsarc does? I am using Sonoran cable as a power cable, but have found the Prana silver cable to be a really nice match recently with the VAC as an interconnect and speaker cable. So I am interested in the silver power cords by RAL (as the Prana are quite a bit more). I am waiting on a pair of Deva interconnect and speaker cable to be made for me as they are hand made cables. They were a really nice match in my auditioning. The new prana powercord is supposed to be really good, but comes in around $2k, which is more than I want to spend right now.
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