Verastarr amplifiers? Anyone ? Owners or Opinions

Like I thought I guess no one knows about their amps maybe only their cables. I guess that's not good ?

Someone , anyone ??

i have dealings with their sister company hot rod audio mods and it was not good

Given the amps and other non-cable items on their web page seem to be all labelled as part of the 'special projects' section, have you tried getting in touch with Verastarr and asking them for a reference call with the owner(s) of the amps you are interested in. With special project items like this, the probability that a current owner of a possibly very small number of such amps may not even be a current posting member of Audiogon. Best advice would be to talk to Verastarr and get contact with an amp's owner to have a direct conversation.....

Thanks for the idea zephyr I was just taking a shot out here to see if there were any owners or anyone that's heard them.
68pete what do you mean sister company and what happened if you care to share ?

Verastarr has a related company that performs equipment modifications: http://hotrodaudiomods.com/ I have no experience with them, just clarifying regarding the above posts.

Who ever heard of this??

Interesting

Sounds like a money laundering scheme..

Weird I see the guy Michael in pictures at a whole bunch of audio shows and his amps and cables with other reputable gear.

Hi Joe, Zephyr by far gives the best advice. One phone call and I could give you a history of that Amp along with our company history, which, by the way, does not include a "money laundering scheme" LOL. Sorry to disappoint the dramatic fantasy.
This amplifier was quoted by the Positive feedback Online Reviewer John Beavers as being the "best Solid State Amplifier I have ever heard". It was our attempt at crossing Home Theater with the High End, and we did it in spades. Problem was Verastarrs heart is in 2 channel, not Home Theater. So we probably made a dozen or so of these amps and they were gobbled up by a cult following, including professional recording studios which used them to tri amp a stereo setup. In fact we sold an iteration of this amplifier which was much more pro oriented to George Lucas for the new (at the time) Industrial Light and Magic installation in the Presidio location of S.F. He used 9 of them for one theater which was their in house screening room the size of a small public movie house. So, you are correct. The people that have them hold on to them like Gold. The people that buy them give us right of first refusal upon the desire to sell, so we have bought back roughly 5 of them and re sold. Do you have one of these Joe ??
As far as Hot Rod Audio, this is what was left of the start of our career. Verastarr started making cables and modifying gear, as well as selling other companies products. We became good enough at it and understood the design of components well enough to make our own designs that were already "hot rodded" from the factory. So we renamed the mod / dealer portion Hot Rod Audio, and relegated Verastarr to making only U.S.A handbuilt exotic Hi-Fi gear. Meanwhile Hot Rod Audio kept selling Chinese and Japanese made modded products. There was one transitional year in between where Verastarr commissioned the manufacture of Chinese tube amps, but we dropped it after 1 year in favor of sticking to our passion which was making exotic handbuilt hi-fi in the USA, rather than designing and selling "profit widgets" from China. Maybe not the best business idea, but its where our passion lies.
Now, we go to RMAF, AXPONA and CES every year and are associated with some of the best names in the industry. Some of our favorites being GRYPHON and MBL.
My relationships run deep in the industry, but we are a company that keeps ourselves low key. We meet dealers through word of mouth contacts. They all come to us, we do not go outbound. Most of our product is sold overseas where 2 channel is strong, and exclusive USA products are highly sought after.

Please feel free to email me: [email protected] with any questions..

All the best !

Mike

Hi Mike thanks for the response. An opportunity came up for me to maybe buy one of these amps but it has not worked out so if you want to give me one Mike I'll take it😃 As you can tell my main concerns have been the lack of reviews and resale value and I guess now I know why there's not much info. Do you build the amps yourself Mike or do you have them built per your specs in a factory that builds other amps?

Hi Joe, I couldn't keep these amps in hand if I tried. I have a waiting list of people ready to buy used SSA amps. Lets just say nobody buys these for resale value. Chances are if you can find one used, you will be paying under $5K which is an amazing price considering these are $12K amps. I dont build anything Joe, I run the company and hatch our design concepts, then oversee the projects. This amplifier was built by my employees under my project management. This is not even close to a "rebadge" of another companies amp, and when I say an "iteration" of this amp was sold to Lucas, I mean I was the guy flying to ILM in SF. In other words, I'm not associating some other company that sold to Lucas that also makes our amp type connection. In fact we made amps for 3 other companies at that time. When I decided to steer the company away from Home Theater, the amp factory was sold by me, and all the IP from this amplifier was retained by Verastarr. We have in our possession the only remaining PCB's from this amp, as well as the only remaining special filter capacitors we made for it. I hope this helps to understand the history a little more.

Hi Joe, I couldn't keep these amps in hand if I tried. I have a waiting list of people ready to buy used SSA amps. Lets just say nobody buys these for resale value. Chances are if you can find one used, you will be paying under $5K which is an amazing price considering these are $12K amps. I dont build anything Joe, I run the company and hatch our design concepts, then oversee the projects. This amplifier was built by my employees under my project management. This is not even close to a "rebadge" of another companies amp, and when I say an "iteration" of this amp was sold to Lucas, I mean I was the guy flying to ILM in SF. In other words, I'm not associating some other company that sold to Lucas that also makes our amp type connection. In fact we made amps for 3 other companies at that time. When I decided to steer the company away from Home Theater, the amp factory was sold by me, and all the IP from this amplifier was retained by Verastarr. We have in our possession the only remaining PCB's from this amp, as well as the only remaining special filter capacitors we made for it. I hope this helps to understand the history a little more.

Thx for info. How much are you paying to buy back amps? And just because most people are probably wondering why would someone pay 12,000$ for an amp that you oversee production of ? What is your qualifications when it comes to amp building? Or what makes these amps particularly the ssa-64 so special? Why should someone buy one of these amps when there seems to be no resale value , for 12000$ they can get a well known brand . I am asking this because I would like to know not because I don't believe you that they're worth it. I would just like to know why?

Most amps we buy back are in the $4K range. We sold them for $6500, as we are the manufacturer. We do not retail. My guess is nobody paid $12K even though it was the retail price. Same thing that's done with most every brand.

Evidently you did not Google me or you might understand why people buy from Verastarr. Its a history of making some of the best products in the industry. It has nothing to do with resale, as resale is not why people buy from us. I do not recommend anybody buy because of resale. Buy for performance and quality. Commonly the smaller, handmade audio products outperform the "well known" brands.. Its been happening for years..

Do you attend audio shows Joe ?

The SSA-64 is special because of a massive dual differential Class A input stage, with very high quality film and foil capacitors. Besides this it has a massively overbuilt power supply. These both mean extremely low noise and very clean, dynamic presentation. "Well known" brands will not use parts like these as they are cost prohibitive and not available in large quantity.

This is common knowledge in the Hi-Fi arena. Hope this helps.

Holy smokes......this is even current! I have a SSA 64 that I have just taken out of the box for pics......I had it configured to run 220, and have the Verastarr power cord as well......

I had an outlet put in specifically for this amp, but the wife put the kibosh on its being in the living room.....so it sat......

I have never turned it on.......I've got a Cinepro monster still driving the bus......and while I was hoping to upgrade to the Verastarr, I only have 110 in my listening room.......

I hate the idea of selling something I've never hooked up.......so I thought about having it re-reconfigured back to 110.......!

I fell in love with the Cinepro.....as mentioned, these smaller market amps often out perform the 'bigger' names.......and even if the Verastarr was its equal.......that leaves it in awfully good company......the best I've ever heard

Can't imagine buying such an expensive amp and never using it

Hello OP. I own both a Verastarr SSA-644 and Studio 6.4. These amps have plenty of headroom for dynamic passages backed by more then just total watts as they have massive power supplies with plenty of capacitor storage so the current to drive demanding speakers or taxing musical transitions is readily available. The SSA-644 is a Class A amplifier that switches over to AB when more grunt is needed. What I notice most is that the Class A really opens up the detail on the quieter passages (neutral, natural, musical) and there is no noticeable difference when the louder more demanding passages need the grunt of the Class AB as the amp has all the authority that it needs the moment it needs it. I have listened to large high wattage room heating all Class A amps and once the sound level gets so high the finesse of Class A is lost to the overall sound pressure level in the room which in my opinion means a 300 watt all Class A amp really isn't needed unless its your primary heat source!

These amps are well built with premium components and way over built PCB boards and awesome power supplies. The amps are well thought out as well as laid out properly with attention to signal path detail.

So if you get an opportunity to buy either an SSA-644 or Studio 6.4, I am fairly sure the owner will let you listen to it before you buy it if you both are local. And if not local, I am just as sure that if you purchased one on Audiogon and ended up not wanting to keep it that you would have no trouble turning around and reselling it again on Audiogon.

If you have specific questions about either amp, I would be happy to attempt to answer them.

I have an EAR 890 amp. I am wondering if Vearastarr has an amp they build that will outrun my amp by a country mile? Must be tubes :)

I mostly visit various forums and read the post. I will make an exception on this occasion as I am one of the fortunate who purchase a Verastarr SSA64 (  2400W @ 8 Ohm with all 5 channels driven.) the model before the SA664.   There is a small list of things that I have made a perment part of my earhly experience, my Verastarr SSA64 is on that list. In 2008 or 09, and authorized dealer had permission to sell them on ebay to the highest bidder above the reserve price.  I won the bid (and it was not cheap) and never looked back. At the time I had a pair of Adcom mono block (model ?) a Cinapro preamp, and Bryston 4b amp. Speaker where Genesis Technology Genesis III,  and some other surround sounds,  I have since added a pair of Metaphor 2 with matching numbers an sign document from Bill Peugh, and Karl Schuster.  

Currently my listening room and down, and I am going through that phase of upgrading speaker (sure others have been on the ride) I have been reading reviews on several speakers that require good quality, clean power, to drive said speakers. Some potential buyers are advised, that they might have to invest in better amplification  I review each speaker with the confidence that my Verastarr SSA64 will more than conquer the challenge, exceeding any given requirements with high-end results.

The real challenge is finding them, they are keepers.

Just became the owner of a Verastarr ssa64 and WOW ! , this is a sweet powerhouse. anyone else left here with one?I would  love to chat on your experience in multi channel modes.   

Sorry for the old post resurrection. I just moved to Germany and want to configure my two Verastarr amps for 240v. I have an SSA-644 (same internally as the SSA-64) and a Studio 6.4. I have a handwritten schematic for the 64 but its not very clear and some annotations are obscured.

There are two unused wires on the toroidal transformer that I assume get connected to the junction box with the black circular ICL component.

I can’t find an orange wire thats mentioned on the schematic and it appears all spade pins are used for 240v vs 110v operation. Can anyone provide an image of their 240v wiring? This is how my SSA-644 is setup for 110v.

Thanks in advance