Vac Standard 220 standard, signature, or Phi

"finickey with non-VAC tubes"
frankly i think you'll be very happy with those kevin recommended the brimar cv4003's to me for one of his amps, and i think the mullards are very similar. i've tried a number of different tubes in my vac amp and it has always been very revealing about different tubes, but i wouldn't say "finickey".... just my 2c.

The Phi series is Kevin's best to date. I have the Phi's (110's) and they are musical and revealing. They are very fast and dynamic, with lots of air. No shortages to speak of. They are realitively new and if you can find them used you should jump on them. I do not experience load issues and I understand that they drive Thiels (which can be power hungry) quite well. Bass is very room dependent (a fact), speaker dependent, and taste dependent (imho). some like it tight (too tight), some like it loose (too loose), some like it forward (perhaps too forward), etc. I don't miss anything in the bass. He had them driving the very large VS at the show last year with no problems.

I have owned the Ren series 70/70's and prefer the Phi. I do own a Signature preamp and find it quite nice. I would like to own the Phi preamp some day.

Currently I drive my Maggie 20R's with a pair of VAC 220's....very nice match, but in the quest for better than nice I'm going down the biamp/active crossover road. I just purchased a tubed Marchand crossover and have another pair of VAC 220's on the way. I'll let you know the final outcome in mid-Jan if you are interested.