I owned the VZN-80 Musicwood edition for 8 years. Wonderful sound, very present and immediate, with rich, full bodied tone. Had to sell it because of the heat. My music room was remodeled and I am now sharing it with the rest of my family. No way they would put up with the heat, nor would I expect them to. Prior to the remodel, I had the amp in an unused bathroom, which has since been demolished, and ran the cables through an adjoining wall to my music room, which helped me deal with the heat. If I could still keep the amp in a separate room, I would still own it.
My Joule amp was a labour of love, in that I often had to tinker with it. Buzzing and humming would arise, much more than any other amp that I have owned, but always I was able to diagnose the issue. Usually it was an output tube that needed to be replaced, or an output tube needed to be re-biased, or DC offset needed to be adjusted. A couple times I just had to re-route a cable and the noise would go away - that was puzzling to me as I never had to do that with the other amps that I owned, but hey, the solution worked. When the amp was quiet, meaning it was operating with just a very faint touch of tube hiss, it was glorious. Just as a point of reference, a VAC 70/70 amplifier was noisier in my system than my VZN-80, but my Coincident Frankensteins that I currently use are quieter.
Output tubes are $40-$60 each. The price adds up if replacing 8 tubes or more. There was a Russian seller offering them for $20, but he didn't have any left last I checked three years ago. The driver tubes can be inexpensive, or you could go for NOS tubes, some of which can cost way more than the output tubes. Didn't have to replace the driver tubes until the amp was 7 years old.
I also owned the LA-150MKII preamp, a very nice match with the amp. Never had a problem with it. Loved the touch of richness it added to the sound, without compromising the presence and immediateness that I prized. Stock tubes were still going strong when I sold it.
