Why Not More Conversation about VAC?

I owned an Avatar SE and I had the same experience as Maineiac. Called Kevin with some questions and he was on the phone within 20 seconds and seemed excited to talk about this 8 year old amp. We had a lengthy conversation led completely by him. He was in no rush and was very welcoming and enthusiastic.

At this point I need upward of 80 watts and it is a little above the budget with VAC. I think at one point I sent Maineiac an email trying to get him to sell his amp. He let me down easy.

another (extremely) satisfied customer. i recently purchased a pair of VAC Musicblocs and have found Kevin to be incredibly helpful. he is very generous with his time on the phone and always replies to emails thoroughly and promptly. this is especially remarkable given that i purchased the gear second hand.

the level of commitment kevin has to his customers and his passion for his product is matched by a very select few (ralph at atma-sphere comes to mind). he even auditioned an alternate tube type i was considering using in place of the 12AU7 tubes just to let me know what he thought of them.

as genuinely pleased as i am in my dealings with the folks at VAC, it wouldn't mean much if the gear wasn't exceptional... it is and then some. WOW, the musicblocs are simply PHENOMENAL!! utterly amazing in my rig.

Interesting and entertaining thread....Although there aren't tons of threads about VAC gear on Audiogon there are enough references (in VAC-centric threads and also as reference comments in threads about other gear) to understand that it is one of the few brands where owners are uniformly and consistently very happy with the performance over the long haul. I am about a week away from receiving a VAC 300.1a and VAC Ren III preamp so am eager to enjoy the VAC build quality and sound. One of the reasons I opted for VAC was also related to the principles and background of Kevin. Good information on VAC's website about his personal/professional history that gives a glimpse into his values and dedication to engineering in service of enjoying music. We are lucky to have really good guys engineering great equipment in the US (e.g., my phono amp is a Herron VTPH-2, and Keith Herron is another wonderful human being whose engineering prowess translates to my audio benefit). I'll report back once I have the VAC gear in my system.

I think you will be overjoyed. Yes let us know what you think and of course as Kevin says welcome to the family. You will want to experiment with tube rolling. I like RCA 6SN7's from the late 1950's in the input stage of the amplifier. The preamp also sounds better with vintage tubes. If interested I can recommend some to you.

Coincidentally, I have recently replaced the front tubes of my 300.1s with CV-181 Shuguang Black Treasures. I immediately got a stronger bass presence, wider and deeper soundstage and a more organic "you are there" sound. I got the premium tubes from Grant Fidelity and at first only changed out the center 2 tubes of each amp. I liked the sound so much I also changed out the ends. I would say the center 2 gave me about 70-75% of the change, with the ends making up the difference. Contrary to what I had heard elsewhere, it was nowhere near 95/5, at least not in my system.

These tubes are relatively expensive and pretty widely known for their quality and performance. It is the first and probably LAST time I will tube roll, quitting with a 1 for 1 average. If interested, I would try the center 2 spots and see what you think. This was easily a "1-2 component upgrade" to my 300.1s - I would say a 20-25% improvement and the new tubes are not even close to being broken in yet. If I hadn't just done it, I probably wouldn't have believed such an improvement was possible with just a few little (but expensive :-)) tubes... Good Luck and as Kevin is known to expound - "Welcome to the VAC family!"