Anyone Know What VTL sounds like?

For reliability I would stay away from VTL and Melos.Over the years I have had too many people come into my store pist off at thhose companies.I caried Audio Research for a while but dropt it for Balanced Audio Technology.Better sound ,looks,build.If for some reason a problem would arise they pick it up and send it back 2 day fed-ex on their dime(pretty rare for a co. to do this kind of support).Now I am in Scottsdale,AZ.and I am thinking of Wavestream(too many dealers in the area for BAT.

Luke Manley's VTL gear is highly regarded by many (best of show @ WCES & HiFI '99). I home-auditioned both the model 2.5 preamp & the revered 5.5. Construction wasn't looking very good inside, considering the $$ asking price. I experienced too much tube-rush noise from both models, but my revealing ultra-high-efficiency horns magnified every little flaw. Depth of stage was good, good bass extension, & reasonable highs, but nothing real impressive here. The dealer "fixed" the 2.5 for me; the second round tryout was even worse as he had not replaced the noisy/microphonic tube, & had replaced only 1 of the outputs so the gains were way uneven. I may have just not been setup properly (re: optimal interconnects & power cords for this gear) because the raves I've read about these preamps came nowhere close to my mediocre experiences. I really tried to like them, but it wasn't happening.

I've owned multiple versions of CJ, ARC, Melos, and VTL. My wife and I are very partial to tube sound. However each manufacturer has a rather distintive sound that can be shifted by changing the brand of tube used in their equipment. I think it would be rather difficult to recommend a unit based on sound and think it would be a matter of preference. We actually prefer the Melos sound and dislike the CJ sound but I would never recommend that someone buy a Melos due to reliability problems. We have a local tech that can fix mine. VTL sounded OK to us but the ARC units have always been our second choice when we have compared units. We haven't heard the BAT in our system. I strongly recomend you listen before you buy unless you have the capital to buy used, decide and resell what you don't like.

pls1 - i hear ya on the melos. my recently-acquired music-director yust came back from melos w/the rest of its updates completed (the previous owner had paid for a complete update, but it seems they left out some caps.) well, i have had it back for a week, the sound is unbelievably good, but yust tonite, i lost the right channel. :<( not looking forward to having to send it back to melos, even if it *is* on their dime. know anyone in the baltimore-dc area that is familiar w/working on these? doug

About reliability, I own a pair of VTL for 10 years, and no problem whatsoever.