Help to make a choice: BAT; VAC; E.A.R.

vac by far

I like the old Vac 30/30 for the VAC choice. Would step up to BAT 75SE in that direction.

Both sound fantastic and neither are better "by a mile"

Cheers,

I think the VAC Renaissance 70/70 would be better than what has been mentioned. It is totally dual mono all the way to the power cords and power switches, and is enormously powerful for a 65 watt amp (that wattage figure is meaningless).

It has automatic bias to take all hassle out of tubes, as well as a protection circuit that automatically kills power to any tube that is malfunctioning. The output tubes are super long life 300-B's. I just replaced my set on my VAC Renaissance 140/140's (the monoblock version of the 70/70) after five years of very frequent use. This is an amp you just turn on and off. No biasing of tubes, no regularly blowing tubes.

The sound is world-class and build-quality can't be beat. Given that they list for $14k and can be had used for almost $5k, they are extremely good value.

I'm surprised to hear from that many VAC devotees, it speaks volumes about company products. And yet, at the same time it's surprising not to have any opinions in favor of BAT or E.A.R. for that matter.
Raquel: Appreciate your suggestion of Renaissance 70/70, but I don't think it will be easy to find used, since it's a special order product only.
Still, could somebody expand on the differences b/w Standard 105/105; Standard 220 monoblocks, Auricle Musicblocks ; Renaissance 30/30 Signature- all this models are on A-gon now. Appreciate everybodie's help very much.

Although expensive at $14,000 new, there were quite a few VAC 70/70's sold while the amp was in regular production. They come up for sale used on Audiogon pretty frequently, and can be had for good prices because most people don't know what they are (i.e., how good the amp is).

If you do pursue the amp, make sure to look for a Mk. III or Signature, as the earlier versions do not have the protection circuitry.