Van Alstine?

I have owned Van Alstine equipment for 30 t years. Currently have Insight 440 Amp, Insight Preamp and DAC. Also use an older FET Vavle Pat 5 pre-amp in a different system. The stuff sounds great. The pieces are rugged as the mountains. Frank Alstine is always willing to answer questions and suffers this fool with patience. You should also be aware that upgrades are available and seems reasonably priced. Can't recommend highly enough.

I recently heard Van Alstines Latest series the Synergy series
The small one is 120 wpc anything you buy I strongly suggest
The a Double dye option 2x the heavy duty execon Mosfets.$99 upgrade well worth it it gives more power, control,dynamics, and fidelity.
I heard the 400 series that has 2x Mosfets standard it is like 240 wpc
He does not give lower ohm specs for Frank feels there are too many variables,used to loosely in the industry.it will though give you added wpc
Down lower.stable to a solid 2 ohms.
I thought this unit was Very musical , tight controlled Bass and a very full
Deep image soundstage Very tube like with better leading edge definition.
So good I just ordered the 300 double-dye around 180wpc or better into 4 ohms.since my speaker is a 4 ohm load .For $1,650 delivered a true high end bargain.if this was sold in a store $4k all day long,just on sonics alone.
I like the MOSFET character.the flagship is. $2kand another 80 wpc more.
I spoke with Frank . Over 45 years in the field he knows his electronics.
He explained a lot of guys use a lot of capacitors as a fail safe to clamp down for protection n the circuit. One thing down different here ,since
He hired a pretty progressive electrical engineer is many more regulated
Power supplies at different stages ,that would not be in the Audio path
Directly like many do with loads of capacitors.i do have to agree it sounds pretty dam clear ,and warm up time is a fraction of what I am used To.
The only down side is that I have to wait 2-3 weeks ,for each one
Is hand built tested, by Frank ,or his engineer.only then will it go out .
In the mean time I will just play around with my other 4 amps.

I must back up ,I changed my order to the Synergy 450
225 wpc into 8 ohms ,and roughly 450 into 4 ohms stable to 2ohms.
I will go on record that this will be very hard to beat even at $5k
Which it would be if working with dealers inside parts quality is first rate.
The plastic type connectors on back possibly could be improved
But the contacts are Brass then Gold plated at $2k a true hiend bargain
The preamps are also Vety good. Digital I think would rather use others
Such as the Schiit Gungnir.i owned several $4-5k dacs I love this $850 hiend bargain. Could not resist build quality excellent too !! value- no dealers.

AVA amps have been OK, have owned Omega SS amp and EC pre, then Fet Valve Hybrid 350 and Fet Valve EC pre-amp, both circa 2000, still use these in home theater system. In his owner's literature, VA always insisted his team could hear no difference between his included Chinese tubes and others, but I replaced all four, both amps, with matched Sovteks from Audio Perfection in Richfield, MN, and heard a 25% improvement right away in clarity and depth. Living a few miles from Burnsville, MN, I had been out to his house 5-6 times from '93-2000 to buy and listen in his basement assembly and demo room, and yes, he always voiced disdain for the audio salons and their expensive, over-marketed lines and that they would do anything to save a nickel. He was at that time very centered on his products as incomparable for the price, even though options brought the totals up quickly.

Of late, I am glad AVA gave up the lamp-quality power cords. I had IECs installed on my fet valve amps a long time ago, posted photos of the mod on the AVA forum on AC and garnered many derisive comments from his followers, and I don't need to mention his ridicule of any cable costing more than $10, if that.

AVA prices have jumped considerably as AVA has rolled out new models and so many upgrades, the most fervent followers cannot get off the audio nervosa merry-go-round. The upgrade fatigue has been apparent on the threads. Seems he has brought a design team on board to move closer to wherever he wants things to be. For his costs now, one also do well with a pair of used tube amps from ARC, another MN company that was on his list of over-priced salon pieces. I have not heard his recent offerings, though, to be fair, but I do notice the same plastic nuts on the binding posts--in my experience, these do crack.

There are many happy customers there, no doubt, and the service and personal attention is a big draw. You could do a lot worse, as well.

Had I first noticed its age, I would not have commented on this thread, revived by one AVA fan, Audioman58. I wholly endorse your choice of AVA and am sure you will enjoy your AVA amps. Mine still work well for me after fourteen years.