BAT Preamps, why such polarized opposite opinions?

thank you depac996. it just happens that your experiences and mine are in agreement and you confirm my belief that an audition under relevant conditions is the only intelligent way to avoid the risk of disappointment after purchasing a component.

it has been said, over and over again, that well-meaning opinions should not be the basis for purchasing components.

hopefully this is the last time it needs to be said. unfortunately, this good advice will be repeated in the future, in response to another thread.

I would like to put my prevoius post into perspective. BAT sounds veiled and closed in IN COMPARISION to the latest ARC Reference gear (Ref 3 & Ref 110). If you compare it to some other amps, it may not be that obvious.

Which doesn't change the fact that BAT has a typical "wall of sound" perspective, with poor microdynamics and very little inner life.

And I think I know what I'm talking about since I owned BAT 51SE for over 2 years and have tried it on a very revealing speakers, including Avalon Eidolon Vision, Quad 2805 and Audiostatic DCM-5 (ULTRA transparent electrostatic speakers).

I accord with Lewm & Flemke that a perception of sluggishness & treble roll-off that one senses with BAT is a signature of the identical oil coupling caps used throughout much of the BAT tube line-up. Switching to good teflon such as V-Cap improves dynamics, resolution & HF extension. The BAT zero-neg feedback triode tube amp designs are great & with the coupling cap mod I believe they surpass stock ARC.

None of the above responses takes the place of a proper audition. NONE. This is a truth that no one worth their flux capacitors can deny.
Enjoy the ARC REF3 Elberoth2. I heard (or was that read?) somewhere that it is white hot sounding in its presentation. Perhaps someday I will take the requisite time to audition one in my reference system.

Audphile 1 said, "you doubt the group of people who offered their opinion that contradicted with what you READ in the forums." Well, so what? There are others here who don't agree with your group.

Elberoth1 has a very expensive and sophisticated system, so I give credence to his opinion. He sold his VK51SE. I respect others' opinions too. Just trying to sort it out.

Flying to a BAT dealer to audition? I don't think so. Besides, I've auditioned components at dealers where they sounded dreadful, and the component was a good sounding component. Many dealers don't know good sound, unfortunately.

Perhaps those posters who think the oil caps are the culprits are correct. I know there were some who didn't like the Jensen oil caps used by Cary and preferred the non-oil (I believe it was Hovland) caps. Those caps are BAT's thing, though, and I certainly wouldn't buy a preamp and change out the caps, reducing its resaleability in half.