Why Not More Conversation about VAC?

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!"

Hi Fplanner201, interesting read on your amps and of the changing of those tubes, thanks for sharing.

I haven't yet got arround to doing any tube rolling in my VAC pre, have you done any like others have mentioned above.

It's getting closer now in relation to getting my Statement 450's, scheduled for delivery for the first week of June. I'm anxiously awaiting it's been a long time.

I have held off doing any tube rolling in my pre because I would like to get these mono blocks in place and well broken-in and just listen to how Kevin has actually voiced them. What I heard with them paired up I truely enjoyed what I was hearing but time will tell.

Do any of you guys have any information you can share in relation to a NEW separate phono pre that Kevein has been working on.
Apparently Kevin has taken into account owners of the Sig. MK2a who have phono and you can just disconect one of the ambilical cords and via connect the new one up and you are good to go.

In my set-up that's the only area I see my self comparing, I have two arms presently and might ad a third, two MC's and one MM so I would like the luxury of ease of one phono doing everything. So currently I'm missing one MC and it's a pain having to disconect to hear the other arm/cart combo.

There are a few other manufactures phono's on my short list to try and compare but again really in no hurry, won't happen until my amps are well broken-in so I know the sound. When I heard that set-up utilizing the same pre, speakers and Statement amps the internal phono was actually being used. While I was there we compared it up against a external very exspensive unit, yes there were differences, some of the differences I really appreciated but going back to the VAC it just sounded more realistic to me which was great.

Anyone who has the internal phono and has done tube rolling, what have you used and what were the differences sonically you heard.