BAT VK P5 VS P10

I absolutely love my VK-P10SE Superpak (which I purchased from Jfrech!). I sent it to BAT last May for the AC balance and new-style superpak upgrade. It is serial number 027, and has been incrementally upgraded over the past several years first by John and now by me. Unfortunately, due to the age of the circuit board, they did not feel comfortable changing the transformers to the Lundahl units (which is a non-issue for me, as I do not use the transformer). Whatever you do, get the serial number of the unit you are considering and check with Victor or Vladimir at BAT to determine the history of the unit and the potential for future upgrades (such as the AC autobalance circuit). I highly recommend the VK-P10SE superpak!!

That is correct, Victor has explain to me that the revision# on the PC board is important to note. BAT will only do the latest version.

I will have to request for the revision# prior purchasing.

John as you have quoted:

"I suspect the XLR input on the p10 might be the help you need. It add's 6db of gain (plus being balanced which rejects more noise)"

Should I use low or high gain. I assume that there might be some degradation, when switched to high gain output.

Thank you for your support.

Audiogalore - With my P10SE, I use high gain and direct(without transformers) for a variety of MC cartridges. I don't hear any degradation from low to high gain but I do with the transformers.

Great information, I also presently use the high gain on my present P5 setup.

Thank you for your support and look forward persuading a P10. I guess as John mentions the biggest improvement over the P5 will be P10 XLR input from the cartridge dim cable to gain the 6db.

Enjoy music!

Hi, see above, It's more than just the added gain with the xlr input. It's better gain, lower noise which yeilds all sorts of benefits (resolution, detail, better stage/cues etc). Just don't want this minimized. On this phono stage, it's a upgrade.